South Korea struggles to finish World Cup venues

South Korea struggles to finish World Cup venues

JAKARTA (JP): South Korea, which will jointly host the 2002
soccer World Cup with neighboring Japan, is struggling to finish
the construction of local stadia this year.

Yonhap news agency reported that the average progress of
stadium construction has reached 78 percent, an impressive figure
compared to last year when the public had doubts on the readiness
of those venues to welcome the world's best soccer players and
their supporters.

Ulsan, a coastal city to the southeast of the capital Seoul,
and Suwon and Taegu will all finish construction before May and
will put their new stadia into use afterwards.

Pusan, which will also host next year's Asian Games after the
World Cup, is scheduled to finish stadium construction in July
followed by Kwangju, Taejon and Chonju in September while Inchon
and Sogwipo on Cheju island will finish construction in December.

Munsan Stadium in Ulsan will have a roof over the seats and
the pitch will be planted with grass as soon as the lighting and
sound system have been installed.

A friendly match between joint hosts South Korea and Japan
will mark the inauguration of the stadium in April 2001.

Roof construction and grass planting will soon be finished at
Taegu and by the end of May the entire work will have been
completed.

The stadium in Taegu will be the biggest venue in Korea with a
total seated capacity of 68,000.

In the near future, the stadium will host the Intercontinental
Cup before the 2002 World Cup begins and it will also host the
2003 Universiade.

Antara reports that cities in Korea are considering staging
many other events if the country successfully hosts the World Cup
round-robin matches.

Workers are still constructing the Sangam Stadium roof to the
northwest of Seoul. This stadium will host soccer fans from all
over the world at the opening of the quadrennial World Cup. (yan)