World Cup battles will continue<\/p>\n
The year upon which all of Korea's and much of Japan's
\nattention has been focused lies six years ahead, in 2002. The
\nsought-after prize was the right to host the final rounds of
\nsoccer's World Cup that year. Rather than one side facing bitter
\ndefeat at the hands of the other, the two nations have been
\nencouraged to grant each other a partial victory. Our Asia
\ncorrespondent Harvey Stockwin suggests that while a bitterly-
\nfought East Asian war has come to an end, many more skirmishes
\nwill certainly be fought.<\/p>\n
HONG KONG (JP): There they go again. A few months ago, Japan
\nand South Korea were once again arguing over a small, barely
\ninhabited rock called \"Tokto\" by the Koreans, and \"Takeshima\" by
\nthe Japanese.<\/p>\n
The 1995-1996 struggle between South Korea and Japan to secure
\nFIFA's nod as host for soccer's World Cup has been equally
\npassionate and protracted. It has been a rerun of the duel fought
\nby the two nations in 1981-1982 to host the 1988 Olympic Games.
\nSeoul was then the winner -- against the odds -- defeating the
\nJapanese city of Nagoya.<\/p>\n
Another round in the deep-seated and intense post-colonial
\nrivalry between Japan and Korea has come to a barely tolerated
\nend for both parties, as they attempted to emulate South Asia's
\nrecent success in organizing the World Cup in cricket,
\nnotwithstanding another Asian post-colonial rivalry.<\/p>\n
Cricket was faced with the intractable nature of Indo-Pakistan
\nrelations as a veritable sticky wicket on which to play Cricket's
\nWorld Cup. Joint hosting together with Sri Lanka was the
\npreferred solution, and it all worked out very well, especially
\nas Sri Lanka kept the cup in South Asia by winning the final
\nagainst Australia in Lahore.<\/p>\n
European soccer officials, who still seem to dominate the
\nsport's international ruling body -- The Federation of
\nInternational Football Associations (FIFA) -- could be in for a
\nnasty shock if they think the 2002 soccer World Cup will go as
\nsmoothly as the 1996 cricket World Cup eventually did.<\/p>\n
They helped to engineer a surprise compromise over the co-
\nhosting of soccer's World Cup in 2002. Against the odds, it was
\nagreed that both Japan and South Korea will co-host the final
\nrounds of soccer's premier event.<\/p>\n
Yet, judging by what soccer officials are saying, they have no
\nidea of the complexities they now face as a result.<\/p>\n
The Europeans had become deeply disturbed as the rival bids
\nfrom the two East Asian nations were prosecuted with ever greater
\nintensity and animosity in the last few months and weeks. The
\ndispute over Tokto was bad enough, but the rivalry over soccer
\nwas equally ardent, perhaps even more so.<\/p>\n
Belatedly, it dawned on them that in East Asia, the soccer
\ncraze was highly political as well as highly emotional.<\/p>\n
On June 1, top FIFA officials were due to award the 2002 World
\nCup to either Korea or Japan. Basically, a situation had been
\nreached where it was difficult to see how either Japan or South
\nKorea would be able to accommodate the prospect of defeat. Such
\nwas the emotional intensity with which their rivalry over hosting
\ncontest had been pursued.<\/p>\n
I can imagine how those in FIFA that favored co-hosting felt.
\nOn the one hand, FIFA's president -- Joao Havelange -- had
\nclearly come to back the Japanese bid. Both he and the Japanese
\nwere rejecting any notions of co-hosting right up until the
\nmorning of May 30. Havelange vowed that co-hosting would never
\ntake place during his presidency.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, those favoring the co-hosting compromise,
\nincluding soccer officials, probably thought that this Korea-
\nJapan rivalry was just another example of soccer madness run
\nwild. Things were getting out of hand. Co-hosting was the
\nrational answer which would sort things out.<\/p>\n
Consequently the co-hosting proponents first secured
\nsufficient African and Latin American support to give them a
\nclear majority on FIFA's executive committee. Once Havelange saw
\nthat the numbers were against him, he preferred to hang on to his
\npresidency and quickly changed his mind on co-hosting. End of the
\nproblem. Or so some may have thought.<\/p>\n
But if that's what many soccer officials think, they could
\nnot be more wrong. The co-hosting decision is the beginning of
\nwhat looks to be a fascinating chapter in the history of Asian
\ndiscord.<\/p>\n
When all is said and done, Korean-Japanese relations
\nfrequently exude the deep animosity of an ethnic antagonism, even
\nthough -- to outsiders -- Koreans and Japanese both come from the
\nsame racial stock.<\/p>\n
For the Koreans, as they mounted their typically late-starting
\ncome-from-behind \"World Cup Korea\" campaign, it was never merely
\na case of winning the host's role. They also desperately wanted
\nto defeat Japan.<\/p>\n
For the Japanese, there is an ethnic difference. Their
\nnationality law admits as much. The hundreds of thousands of
\nKoreans brought to Japan during the colonial period, who elected
\nto stay on, can never become Japanese citizens, no matter how
\nmany generations their families live in Japan -- except by
\nsubterfuge, pretending they are ethnic Japanese and hoping that
\nno Japanese will notice. The Japanese authorities usually do.<\/p>\n
The emotional antagonism on the Korean side comes, in large
\npart, from the fact that during a mere 35 to 40 years of Japanese
\ncolonial rule, Japan still tried to eliminate both Korean names
\nand even the Korean language. Paradoxically, the Japanese treated
\nthe Koreans as a lesser colonial breed, but they still wanted the
\nKoreans to be the same as them.<\/p>\n
As a result, Koreans playing soccer in the 1930s played with
\nJapanese names for Japanese-named teams. Koreans knew, of
\ncourse, who were \"ours\" and who were \"theirs\". Part of the
\npresent-day passion for soccer lies in the fact that Koreans kept
\ntheir separate sense of identity alive by beating the real
\nJapanese teams as often as they could.<\/p>\n
Today, the colonial period adds bitterness to the Korean-
\nJapanese relationship for another reason: the Koreans remember
\nevery last detail of their oppression, while Japan has taken care
\nto expunge memories of its brutality.<\/p>\n
The year 1919 provides an interesting point of comparison
\nbetween the British Empire in India and the Japanese Empire in
\nKorea.<\/p>\n
The story of the 1919 Amritsar Massacre by the British is
\nalmost as well-known in Britain as it is in India. It aroused a
\nlot of controversy in Britain when it occurred. In Richard
\nAttenborough's film Gandhi, the incident was displayed in all its
\nhorror.<\/p>\n
Contrast that with the fact that the Korean Student Uprising
\nin 1919 and its consequent suppression by the Japanese are
\ngenerally unknown, except by Koreans. The brutality was also
\nextreme: apart from the many executions, missionary accounts tell
\nof many male and female students being publicly stripped and
\nflogged, and some even crucified.<\/p>\n
Japan kept Korea secluded from the outside world, and
\nsuppressed all news of the \"incident\" both at home and abroad.
\nThe western press never got hold of the story. Missionary
\naccounts are virtually all there are to go on. Ignorance in Japan
\n(and the outside world) about Korea in 1919 has continued until
\nthe present day.<\/p>\n
As far as I am aware, no top Japanese filmmaker has ever tried
\nto portray the reality of 1919.<\/p>\n
The Koreans remember, the Japanese forget. This is an
\ninflammable part of the combustible emotional fuel which can
\neasily ignite a brittle relationship.<\/p>\n
The Japanese assume that, for everybody, the ocean between the
\ntwo countries is the Sea of Japan. For Koreans it is the East
\nSea.<\/p>\n
The Japanese assumed that every member of FIFA would recognize
\nthat their facilities for the World Cup were superior. This only
\nreminded the Koreans of former Japanese colonial attitudes which
\nassumed Korean inferiority -- and the memory pushed them towards
\nthe more aggressive presentation of their case.<\/p>\n
The Japanese will assume that it is to be the Japan-Korea
\nWorld Cup in 2002. The Koreans will insist that it must be the
\nKorea-Japan World Cup.<\/p>\n
The Japanese will insist that the ultimate World Cup Final can
\nonly be held in Tokyo. The Koreans will insist that it must take
\nplace in Seoul.<\/p>\n
And so it will go on. Those soccer administrators who think
\nthat the co-hosting compromise solves the problem simply do not
\nknow what they are up against.<\/p>\n
They have merely solved one manifestation of a vexed and
\nenduring antagonism. There will be plenty more such
\nmanifestations before what ought to be called the East Asian
\nWorld Cup actually takes place.<\/p>\n
So The Jakarta Post would like to suggest one method of
\nconflict-resolution which might promote World Cup co-hosting
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
When the problem of where to hold the 2002 World Cup Final
\nproves intractable, the best solution will be to arrange a game
\nof soccer.<\/p>\n
A double-header event between the Japanese and Korean national
\nteams can be arranged. The first game can be in Seoul, the second
\nin Tokyo. Any Japanese goals scored before the passionate crowd
\nin Seoul, or any Korean goals scored before the disciplined
\nsolidarity of the spectators in Tokyo will count double.<\/p>\n
The aggregate score will decide the issue of where the game
\nwill be held. If the scores are even at the end of the two games,
\nthen another two games will be arranged in Pusan and Osaka. The
\nissue is simply too important to be decided by the dubious method
\nof a penalty shootout. The ultimate loser can host the opening
\nceremony.<\/p>\n
If such a solution is preferred and the games are held, the
\nsheer ferocity of the matches will be terrific, and any student
\nof Japanese-Korean relations will simply have to be in the
\nstadium for both games.<\/p>",
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