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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- With World Cup teams playing to many empty seats, the flap over unsold tickets escalated Monday as South Korea and Japan considered ways to recoup their losses. Shiro Asano, governor of Japan's northeastern state of Miyagi, said the government might sue Byrom Inc., a Britain-based ticketing agency hired by FIFA, world soccer's governing body. "As one of the host regions, we have a duty to harshly denounce them. We may seek compensatory damages, if it's necessary," Asano said. South Korean government spokesman Shin Joong-shik said losses from unsold World Cup tickets are estimated at $770,000 a match, the national Yonhap news agency reported. He did not say whether South Korea would sue Byrom, which was responsible for printing tickets and selling them outside South Korea and Japan, co-hosts of the World Cup. Whole sections of seats were empty during Senegal's 1-0 upset of France in the opening match Friday in Seoul, although FIFA had said the game was sold out. A computer mix-up was blamed for the problem. South Korean organizers said the main problems involved international ticket sales. Byrom was in charge of selling half the 3 million available tickets to fans outside South Korea and Japan, while local organizers were responsible for selling the rest to domestic fans. Byrom officials were not immediately available for comment. FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said an investigation was under way and that officials would try to find ways to fill seats at the remaining matches. Most of the empty seats were not the result of problems with ticketing systems, he said: The tickets simply were not sold. In South Korea on Sunday, Paraguay's match against South Africa _ a 2-2 tie -- attracted 32,300 spectators for a stadium that holds 53,800. Spain beat Slovenia in front of 28,600 people in a 44,100-capacity stadium. Attendance has been similar at matches in Japan. FIFA is also investigating North Korea's broadcast on its state-run television of part of the Senegal-France match. Cooper said the transmission was illegal because nobody holds World Cup broadcasting rights in the communist state. South Korean officials said North Korea on Sunday broadcast part of the Ireland-Cameroon match, played Saturday in Japan. (Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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