The South Korean consul general to Mexico was hoisted onto strangers' shoulders in Mexico City and handed tequila straight from the bottle. Someone draped a Mexico jersey over his suit. He had never met any of them. His country had just beaten Germany, the team that had won the World Cup four years earlier.
That was June 27, 2018. Mexico had been hammered 3-0 by Sweden that same afternoon, their World Cup on the line. Eight hundred kilometers away in Kazan, South Korea scored twice in the last six minutes and eliminated Germany, the defending world champions. Mexico, a country on the other side of the world with no shared history, language, or border with Korea, was saved.
Within hours, hundreds of Mexican fans surrounded the South Korean embassy in Mexico City. The consul general, Han Byoung-jin, was lifted into the air, given a Mexico jersey, and made to drink tequila from the bottle by thousands of strangers chanting "Coreano, hermano, ya eres Mexicano" - Korean brother, you are now Mexican. Aeromexico, the national airline, tweeted 20% off all flights to Seoul that same night. In South Korea, goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo was praised on social media as a hero for two countries.
The detail that makes this stranger: Mexico had beaten South Korea 2-1 in that same tournament just four days earlier. Carlos Vela scored from the penalty spot. Javier Hernandez netted his 50th career goal for the national team. Then Korea saved them anyway.
In 2026, they landed in the same group again. South Korea came from behind to beat Czech Republic 2-1 on June 11 in Guadalajara. Mexicans were back in the streets, this time dancing Gangnam Style - the 2012 song by South Korean artist PSY that was the first YouTube video in history to reach 1 billion views. A song from Seoul became the soundtrack of a friendship that neither country saw coming.
On June 18, Mexico and South Korea play each other in that same city. For 90 minutes they are opponents. After the whistle, the tequila comes back out.
No politician planned this. Two injury-time goals in Russia built something that years of diplomatic summits could not have manufactured.
🗣️CULERO CULERO CULERO!!
Korean fans mocking the refs by learning new Mexican words taught to us by our Mexican friends last game.
Cultural exchanges. Too funny. 😂😂
Credit - @tuh0n
Que lástima que el inglés sea el idioma Universal cuando en español sabemos la diferencia en amar y querer, anhelar, soñar, desear, necesitar. Ser y estar