Manager Klinsmann flies off just five days after arrival in Korea

South Korean national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann flew to Los Angeles, where he currently resides, on Tuesday just five days after arriving in South Korea following two A-matches in Britain. “Bringing his belongings from home and handling some errands, he will be back by the end of this month prior to A-matches scheduled in the country next month,” said the Korea Football Association on Wednesday. Born in Germany, he has dual citizenship in the United States as well. He is expected to travel to Europe from the United States to check out South Korean players currently in European football leagues.

After leading two A-matches in Britain, he arrived in South Korea last Thursday. Originally, he planned to fly directly to Germany to watch Kim Min-jae playing a game in the Bundesliga. Met with criticism about his perceived lack of commitment as he spent many days in his Los Angeles home, he changed the routes to come back to South Korea. Spending two days over the weekend, he visited a match in the K-League 1 - more games scheduled for the two upcoming weekends. Joining as South Korea's national football team head coach on Feb. 27, he came to the country nine days later. Since then, he has only spent 73 days in the country, the national football team of which is under his leadership, over the past six months.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com