Cup co-hosting proves a success

Updated: Sunday June 30, 2002 12:49 p.m. ET

ASO, Japan (AP) -- Taishi Oshima and his friends were still giddy celebrating Japan's opening 2-2 draw against Belgium, its first ever World Cup point, when they sat down again on their beer crates in a makeshift sports bar to watch longtime rival South Korea start its campaign.

Quiet and tense, they roared when Hwang Sun-hong opened the score in a 2-0 win over Poland, South Korea's first win in six World Cup appearances. "Everybody wanted South Korea to win, we were rooting hard," said Oshima, a furniture salesman from the southern island of Kyushu.

Oshima and his group of friends, all in their twenties, continued rooting for South Korea even after Japan was eliminated in the second round and South Korea became the first-ever Asian nation to reach the semifinal.

"We all felt sad when they lost," Oshima said.

Across the Sea of Japan -- which Koreans call the East Sea -- this spirit of goodwill between former enemies also made tentative inroads among the young, sidestepping lingering disputes which still leave an older generation bitter.

"I hoped that both Japan and South Korea would advance to the second round to prove that Asian soccer is not weak any more. I wished that Japan had made it to the semifinals as well," said 34-year-old South Korean Chung Yon-kyong after his team lost 1-0 to Germany in the semifinal. Japan lost 1-0 to Turkey in the second round.

Both nations have come a long way since they were forced to reconcile their rival World Cup bids and start cooperating in 1996. Public skepticism about whether they could pull it off was initially intense.

Japan, after all, colonized Korea from 1910 to the end of World War II in 1945 and both countries are at odds over a series of other issues.

A little antagonism, though, bubbled to the surface at times.

"I felt good that our team made it into the semifinals while Japan was eliminated in the second round," said Woo Je-kwang, 55, a government official.

"I know that it's not good to have this kind of feeling toward a neighbor. But I can't help it. Japan brutalized South Korea during its colonial rule."

Overcoming such deeply rooted grudges was a huge task for the organizers. And there were some teething problems.

Last year, Japan started putting its name ahead of Korea on tickets it sold to local fans, going against an official agreement to name it the "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan" and angering the Koreans.

Japan furthet upset South Korea by rejecting demands that it revise eight middle school history textbooks that critics say whitewash Japan's atrocities during World War II.

"It spilled over," said FIFA's media director Keith Cooper. "It affected the atmosphere between both organizing committees."

There was also a degree of bitterness toward Japan in Korea.

After Japan was eliminated and South Korea marched on, The Korea Herald ran the headline "Korea makes history, Japan is history."

But there was a hint of change in the air there too.

"Of course you feel good when you see your team do better than Japan. But I don't want young Koreans to inherit these same feelings," said retired office worker Lee Jae-mo.

"We old Koreans live in the past, but I hope young people look to the future," the 68-year old said.

As well as their success on the field, the co-hosts can look back at a highly successful event in all aspects. At 20 beautiful stadiums, everything -- from the quality of the pitches to the VIP seats -- was first rate.

Policing was low key, and there was none of the violence that has plagued other World Cups.

To foreign visitors, a sense of kindness on both sides lingered.

When a car of foreigners lost its way in Oita, southern Japan, with game time quickly closing in, it was enough to shout "World Cup stadium" to a motorized policeman to be given a police escort to the stadium entry.

In Korea, people offered foreigners food, carried their bags or adjusted the strap of a backpack.

"It was a smiling World Cup," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter. "A smile in Korea and a smile in Japan."

Chung Mong-joon, the chairman of the Korean organizing committee, said: "We hope this smile can be contagious."