Police raid South Korea soccer federation offices in probe of hiring of Hong Myung-bo as coach

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Police raided the Korea Football Association’s offices Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities in the 2024 appointment of Hong Myung-bo as South Korea’s national team coach.

Investigators searched the KFA headquarters in Cheonan, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Seoul, and the KFA House in central Seoul, looking for evidence that officials improperly intervened in the hiring process.

A police investigation began shortly after Hong’s appointment but had stalled this summer after nearly two years without a conclusion. It gained renewed attention amid public anger after South Korea was eliminated in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup.

Hong, who had also led the team at the 2014 World Cup, stepped down after the tournament, as did Chung Mong-gyu as federation president. Both appeared before a parliamentary hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul in July.

Former KFA technical director Lee Lim-saeng reportedly offered Hong the job at a bakery near the coach’s home.

South Korea’s sports ministry said in 2024 that Lee’s meeting with Hong did not constitute a formal interview and that the KFA had breached its own hiring rules. The ministry, however, found no evidence of illegal conduct.

“When I received the offer, I thought they had all taken the proper steps,” Hong said at the parliamentary hearing. “People may think things were not so transparent, but I never once asked for any special treatment.”

According to domestic media reports, police questioned Hong on Tuesday.

Hong was captain of the South Korea team that reached the World Cup semifinals in 2002, when South Korea and Japan co-hosted the tournament.

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Former South Korean men's national team head coach Hong Myung-bo, right, and former KFA President Chung Mong-gyu, left, attend a hearing on the Korea Football Association (KFA) amid a controversy surrounding the management of the sport's national governing body and its impact on the team's World Cup performance, at the National Assembly Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Seoul, South Korea.(Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

Former South Korea men’s national team head coach Hong Myung-bo attends a hearing on the Korea Football Association (KFA) amid a controversy surrounding the management of the sport's national governing body and its impact on the team's World Cup performance, at the National Assembly Thursday, July 30, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.(Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A South Korean satellite has captured the first pictures of the moon’s fresh crash scene caused by a stray SpaceX rocket.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri spacecraft flew over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage inadvertently plowed into the moon on Wednesday. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that were released by the space agency Thursday.

The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, sending dust and rock everywhere. Korean space officials said Danuri gathered before and after shots.

NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site next week to view the aftermath.

Elon Musk's SpaceX launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022.

The company also sent a pair of private lunar landers to the moon last year. The upper stage from that launch is what crashed into the moon this week at 5,400 mph (8,700 kph), placed on an accidental collision course by solar activity and gravity, according to SpaceX.

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This combination of images provided by NASA and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute shows an area of the moon's surface before, left, Oct. 1, 2015, and after, right, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, a SpaceX rocket segment collided with the moon. (NASA, Korea Aerospace Research Institute via AP)