Guadalajara, Mexico: Much-maligned South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo resigned on Sunday, reports said, a day after his side's group-stage exit from the World Cup.

The 57-year-old former captain, in his second stint as coach, oversaw an early World Cup exit for the second time, following the 2014 failure.

South Korea were expected to get out of Group A, which included co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and the Czech Republic.

But they lost 1-0 to South Africa and Mexico, and finished on three points, their only success a 2-1 win over the Czechs.

It left them hoping to squeeze into the knockout rounds as one of the eight best third-placed finishers.

That hope was extinguished on Saturday by results elsewhere, with Hong taking responsibility on Sunday and quitting, Yonhap News Agency said.

The development came barely hours after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung condemned the country's premature World Cup exit, pointing the finger at "incompetent people" and apologising to the nation.

"When loyalty and factionalism are valued over competence, and incompetent people are appointed to leadership positions, the outcome is all but inevitable," Lee said in a post on X.

"I offer my deepest apologies to the public for the profound disappointment caused by this unacceptable outcome.

"We will move swiftly to reform sports administration to ensure that nothing like this happens again," he added, without elaborating.