Committee on reforming football welcomes Olympic chief as new co-chair next to ex-World Cup star

K-football Innovation Committee co-leaders Park Ji-sung, right, and Ryu Seung-min, center, attend the committee's first meeting in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

A new government-formed committee on reforming Korean football was officially launched Monday with its inaugural meeting, as former FIFA World Cup hero Park Ji-sung welcomed the national Olympic chief Ryu Seung-min as his new co-chair.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism first announced the formation of the "K-football Innovation Committee" last Friday, with Park and Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young introduced as co-leaders. The new committee will hold "comprehensive discussions" on ways that can help Korean football's global competitiveness, according to the ministry, and those talks will cover areas such as football governance, youth development and adoption of the latest technologies.

The committee appointed seven members, including Ryu, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee; Kim Seung-hee, executive director of the Korea Football Association (KFA); and two former national team players Lee Young-pyo and Park Joo-ho.

The committee was assembled in the aftermath of Korea's elimination from the group stage at the ongoing FIFA World Cup.

The KFA has been criticized for its opaque process in hiring national team head coach Hong Myung-bo two years ago, giving him a second chance after he had failed to take Korea out of the group stage at the 2014 World Cup. Hong resigned from the post soon after the team's elimination. KFA President Chung Mong-gyu, who in May announced his plans to step down after the World Cup, submitted his formal resignation letter earlier Monday.

At the start of the committee's first meeting on Monday in Seoul, Chae ceded his position to Ryu, saying his job was done after putting together the committee and it was now time for people more directly involved in sports to take over.

Ryu, the 2004 Olympic men's table tennis gold medalist, thanked Chae and the ministry for giving him and others "a meaningful opportunity" for discussions on improving Korean football and restoring the public's faith in the sport.

"As someone in charge of sports administration in Korea, I felt I had to share the responsibility in ensuring a brighter future for football," Ryu said in accepting the co-chair position. "Over the past few days, I had been thinking long and hard about how I can best help the sport while serving on this committee."

Ryu insisted that the committee is not designed to meddle with KFA's operations or personnel decisions and noted that the KFA's independence must be respected. The committee, Ryu added, will try to view things from an outsider's perspective and offer productive measures that can help improve football.

"I think it is important to ensure our discussions here will lead to concrete changes and to clearly define if we want to simply make recommendations or if we want to demand follow-up action," Ryu added. "And in order to see actual progress, the minister and everyone on the committee must be on the same page."

Park, a key member of the national team that reached the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup on home soil, said Korea's early exit from this year's tournament provided a valuable lesson.

"Based on what happened at this World Cup, I think we have now realized we cannot afford to keep doing things the way we have always done them," Park said. "I really hope that the KFA and Korean football will lead the way and have a positive impact on all the other sports. I am really grateful for a chance to contribute at least a little bit to that effort."

Park said he and the two other former players, Lee and Park Joo-ho, will try to represent the sport the best they can.

"As former players, we all feel responsible for the current situation," Park Ji-sung said. "We will not simply view things through the eyes of former players, but will do so from every possible angle and determine if our ideas can be implemented. There will be a lot of eyeballs on us and we will do our best to produce great ideas."