Under sweltering heat and a blazing sun, tens of thousands traded in chimaek for iced coffee and water to watch Korea take on Mexico and carry on the city's cheering tradition.
Tens of thousands of South Korean fans pack Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on June 19, to watch South Korea face Mexico in the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage. NEWS1

Lim Chang-ho still had his work badge around his neck when he arrived at Gwanghwamun Square on Friday morning. So did the roughly 20 colleagues who came with him from Copenhagen Offshore Partners, a foreign-invested firm in Jongno District, a short walk from the area.

Their team leader had made the call after watching staff repeatedly sneak glances at their phones during Korea's opening match against Czech Republic last week. This time, he said, they would do it properly.

"The other departments were jealous they weren't invited," Lim told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Korean and Mexican fans pose together with a Mexican flag in front of the statue of King Sejong the Great at Gwanghwamun Square on June 19. Despite rooting for opposite sides, the two groups mingled freely after the match. SEO JI-EUN

Ryan Colbeck, the team's senior director, said he had given everyone the morning off.

"They work very hard," he said. "Anyone who wanted to come could come."

A view of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on June 19 YONHAP

On a Friday in June, with temperatures climbing toward 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and a heat advisory in effect across Seoul, tens of thousands showed up anyway — on a workday, before noon, to watch their team face Mexico at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Guadalajara.

The area was awash in red jerseys, scarves, painted cheeks and more, with Seoul city government officials estimating at least 18,000 people in the square ahead of kickoff. The stands were filled beyond capacity. Overflow crowds spilled onto the adjacent road, forcing organizers to expand the viewing area.

Korea lost to Mexico 1-0, with a goal in the 50th minute serving as enough to decide the match. The square fell quiet when it went in — a brief, heavy silence before the Red Devils supporters' section called out: "It's okay. Let's cheer louder." The group, in their signature uniforms, have helped fill the square for every major tournament since 2002.

A child is exhausted by the heat and lies flat on the ground under umbrellas for shade at Gwanghwamun Square. Temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius during the day. SEO JI-EUN

The KT Building's giant billboard loomed directly above the main viewing area, the morning sun sitting just above it, searing into the crowd. Staff handed out bottled water and stationed a medical tent for heat-related illness. Fans arrived armed with sunglasses, hats, arm sleeves and portable shade. The usual Korean viewing ritual — fried chicken and beer, or chimaek — gave way to iced coffee and water bottles. It was that kind of morning: too hot and too early, but nobody was complaining.

Gwanghwamun wasn't alone. Similar viewing parties drew crowds all across Seoul. Screens were likewise stationed in Yeouido, Myeongdong and other city hotspots, where fans gathered through the morning heat to watch the match. 

The noise in Gwanghwamun came in waves. When the broadcast feed carried the roar of Mexican fans in Guadalajara cheering, the square answered back even louder.

Here and there, though, scattered throughout the red, a few green jerseys nevertheless stood their ground.

Lee Jae-min, 35, an office worker from Yongsan District, central Seoul, had taken the day off.

He had done the same for the Czech Republic match, and already planned to return for Korea's final group game against South Africa.

He came alone the first time, but his first experience was apparently good enough that this time he brought two friends — one of whom had taken a dawn train from Cheonan in Gangwan to make it on  time.

Asked why he keeps coming out to Gwanghwamun instead of just watching at home, he instantly replied: "I'm Korean," he said. "Of course I'm here."

Susan Park, right, poses with her family at Gwanghwamun Square on June 19. SEO JI-EUN

Susan Park had flown in from Boston — on vacation with her husband, her younger daughter and her mother-in-law, who is over 90 years old. She had been to Gwanghwamun for a World Cup match roughly a decade ago, with her older daughter.

"Today I brought my mother-in-law who has dementia," Park said. "Being back in Korea, in a crowd, among the noise — it brings things back."

Kang Soo-han drove in from Paju, Gyeonggi, with two other parents and about six children — members of a youth football club, aged 10 to 12. He had skipped the Czech Republic match.

Children from a youth football club, aged 10 to 12, cheer at Gwanghwamun Square on June 19. Their parents drove them in from Paju, Gyeonggi, for the match — their first visit to the square's World Cup viewing event. SEO JI-EUN

"It's a host nation match," he said. "I thought the atmosphere would be different — and I wanted the kids to feel it."

In one corner of the square, staff from the Embassy of Panama were handing out cups of ice-cold water to anyone who wanted one.

Panama's Ambassador Diego Manuel Villanueva Martinelli, who is on his second year in Korea, said the idea came naturally as he knows this kind of heat from his home country.

Diego Manuel Villanueva Martinelli, Panama's ambassador to South Korea, hands out cups of ice-cold water to fans braving the heat at Gwanghwamun Square on June 19. SEO JI-EUN

He added one small request in return: "I just hope that when people get home in the afternoon, they Google Panama once."

He spoke of ties older than football: of diplomatic relations since 1961, Korean-flagged ships coming through the Panama Canal and a Korean boxer who fought in Panama in 1978, was knocked down three times, and still won. "That," he said, "tells you everything about Korean resilience."

Also standing out in the crowd: Carlos Peñafiel Soto, Mexico's ambassador to Korea, who came with his wife and nephew in bright green El Tri uniforms to watch a Folklórico dance performance staged on the square before kickoff.

Carlos Peñafiel Soto, Mexico's ambassador to South Korea, right, poses with his wife and nephew at Gwanghwamun Square. SEO JI-EUN

He invoked a debt that Mexican football fans have not forgotten.

In 2018, the Korean side, already eliminated from the tournament, defeated defending champions Germany 2-0 in stoppage time — a result that sent Mexico through to the round of 16. Mexican fans poured into the streets. Some lifted Korean strangers onto their shoulders.

"After that," Peñafiel Soto said, "Mexicans have thought of Korea as brothers."

He added, "Maybe 1-1 today would be fair."

It might have been, but it was not to be. After the final whistle, a small cluster of Mexican fans gathered near the center of the square — strangers to one another, brought together by the scoreboard. Someone played Mexican music on a portable speaker and they danced.

Among them was Pauline, who has lived in Korea for 12 years and whose Korean husband was at work.

"We love Korea so we were happy to support either side — but happy our motherland won," she said.

One angry Korean supporter approached the group and told them to go back to their own country. But others came closer and took photos. An older woman even came by and said chukahaeyo, or "congratulations."