The Korean Football Association announced yesterday that Jo Bonfrere has resigned as head coach of the South Korean National football team. The resignation, although a surprise, follows a run of losses in recent matches.

A statement issued by the South Korean FA said, "Coach Bonfrere has achieved the goal of getting us to the World Cup but he judged that he could not meet the high expectations that the people and the association have for the World Cup and thus expressed his will to quit the coaching job yesterday evening," said Lee Hoi-taek, head of the association's technical committee.

The South Korean team, and fans alike, have high demands of their players, and anything less than winning is not enough, especially in the lowly Asian Zone qualifying group. This may explain why Mr. Bonfrere is the team's second coach since Guus Hiddink, a fellow Dutchman, who guided South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan, and subsequently was replaced by former Portugal coach Humberto Coelho.

Bonfrere then took over from Coelho in June of last year, who too felt that he could not complete his term amid mounting pressure from fans due to poor showings.

Despite his success in getting South Korea another berth in the World Cup, Mr. Bonfrere had been under attack for a string of poor performances in recent weeks, including 1-0 losses to Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Mr. Bonfrere, at a press conference, denied having been pressured by the Korean FA to resign, though he did say the first thoughts of quitting came after finishing last in the recent four-nation East Asian Football Championship and that he had made up his mind after losing to Saudi Arabia last week.

He made no attempt to hide his discontent with the media and fans alike; "The fans and the media compare the 2002 World Cup team and the current team. Considering the training amount and support given, that is not fair," he said. "There was no such support (this year), and to have similar expectations is not fair."

With the World Cup scheduled to kick off on June 9 next year and the groups to be drawn in December of this year, the rush is on to find a new coach for the national team. South Korean FA officials have said they would select a new coach by the end of September.

On speculation as to whom the new manager will be, there is still nothing definite, as an association official said yesterday, "Everything is still open."

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