S. Korea plays N. Korea card in World Cup bid<\/p>\n
SEOUL (AFP): South Korea is playing the North Korea card and
\nwaving the Third World flag in its battle with Japan to stage
\nAsia's first World Cup finals in 2002.<\/p>\n
By offering to co-host the games with North Korea, South Korea
\nis trying to seduce world soccer's bosses with the idea of
\nbecoming peacemakers to the divided but totally football-mad
\npeninsula.<\/p>\n
Chung Mong-joon, president of the Korea Football Association
\nand passionate ambassador of the campaign for the 2002 World Cup
\nfinals, said co-hosting would push the two Koreas to step up
\nefforts to reunite.<\/p>\n
\"Korea is now the last divided country in the world and the
\nWorld Cup can definitely help the peace-making process and the
\neventual reunification of Korea,\" Chung said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Joao Havelange, president of the International Football
\nFederation (FIFA), has voiced support for a joint Korean bid. But
\nJapan has the edge for the votes of the 21-member FIFA executive
\nwhich will pick the venue in June 1996, insiders say.<\/p>\n
Chung, a FIFA vice president, said that if Japan gets the
\nWorld Cup, Tokyo would \"demonstrate its power to the world.\"<\/p>\n
\"But if Korea hosts the tournament, it can distribute a
\nmessage of hope for developing countries,\" he asserted, calling
\nSouth Korea an \"honor student\" of the Third World.<\/p>\n
Japan also has the advantage in infrastructure, funding and
\nsponsorships, insiders say. Critics also maintain that outside
\nSeoul -- which successfully hosted the 1988 Olympics -- South
\nKorean facilities simply cannot cope.<\/p>\n
Grown<\/p>\n
The World Cup finals have grown so big, especially after USA
\n'94, that Asian football boss Peter Velappan believes South Korea
\nand Japan should co-host.<\/p>\n
But Chung, 43, scoffs at this idea and dismisses charges that
\nhis country is not up to the task, which requires a far wider
\nnetwork of stadiums, hotels and other facilities than the Seoul
\nOlympics.<\/p>\n
Chung claimed Japan had sent overtures about co-hosting.<\/p>\n
But Tadao Murata, a senior member of the Japanese bidding
\ncommittee, said in Tokyo that \"we haven't thought about it at
\nall.\" He also said it would be a \"very tough task\" for South
\nKorea to bring its facilities up to standard.<\/p>\n
Chung said South Korea's bidding campaign budget was US$35
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
Murata said Japan had set aside about $50 million and \"if
\nnecessary, say, due to rising costs and others reasons, we may
\nhave to raise the amount. \"<\/p>\n
But South Korea has resources of its own, and Chung happens to
\nbe a son of the country's wealthiest man, Hyundai conglomerate
\nfounder Chung Ju-yung.<\/p>\n
The younger Chung said South Korea was prepared to spend $800
\nmillion on stadiums. It is also building what is touted as Asia's
\nlargest airport and a high-speed train system.<\/p>\n
The football chief, who holds a doctorate in international
\nstudies from Johns Hopkins University in the United States and is
\na member of South Korea's national assembly, believes his country
\nis destined to be a global player.<\/p>\n
Korean War<\/p>\n
Born in 1951 at the height of the Korean War, Chung, like many
\nof his countrymen, is bitter about Japan's 1910-35 colonial rule.<\/p>\n
He said the fact that Japanese soldiers stayed on the
\npeninsula after losing in World War II gave Soviet and US forces
\nan excuse to occupy Korea, resulting in a communist North and
\ncapitalist South.<\/p>\n
Chung said Japan had \"an unfinished role\" and must help Korea
\nbecome one again -- by giving up its rival World Cup bid.<\/p>\n
He is also contemptuous of Japan's sporting credentials,
\nnoting that South Korea had entered the World Cup finals four
\ntimes -- 1954, 1986, 1990 and 1994 -- and even North Korea got in
\nonce.<\/p>\n
\"This is a remarkable record because other countries in Asia
\nand Africa played only once or twice,\" he said. \"Japan? Zero.\"<\/p>",
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