The South Korean short track speed skating team experienced a disappointing performance at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics trials, failing to secure any medals in the 500m events for both men and women. Hwang Dae-hun and Lim Jong-eon, both participants in the men's 500m preliminaries, placed third in their respective heats, falling short of advancing to the semifinals. Hwang struggled to maintain a strong position throughout his race, finishing with a time of 41.191 seconds, while Lim faced an early setback due to a collision, ultimately concluding his race with a time of 41.289 seconds.

The 500m distance has historically been a weak spot for South Korea, particularly in the Olympic arena. Their last gold medal in this event was won by Chae Ji-hoon in 1994 at the Lillehammer Olympics. Since then, the men's team has accumulated a total of five medals across various Olympics, with notable performances in Torino and Vancouver. However, recent Olympics have seen a decline in success, as evidenced by their non-medal performance in Beijing 2022 and again in Milan.

The women's 500m events have seen even fewer successes, with only two bronze medals historically, won by Jeon Yi-kyung and Park Seung-hee during the 1998 Nagano and 2014 Sochi Games, respectively. Despite strong contenders like Choi Min-jeong and Kim Gil-ree participating in this competition, the South Korean women's team also failed to secure any medals, indicating a continuing struggle for the nation's short track program at this distance.