Yet old tensions simmer. The two countries squabbled on whether the championship should be called the Korea/Japan World Cup or the Japan/Korea World Cup.
Emperor Akihito of Japan sent a cousin in his place, apparently concerned that his presence would incite boos or protests, given that his father, Emperor Hirohito, ruled Japan during its colonial period.
Subtext in South Korea: Payback for Colonialism By JERE LONGMAN
SEOUL, South Korea, June 23 ・As a co-host of the World Cup with its former colonial ruler, South Korea was bound to measure itself most urgently against the success of Japan. In that sense, soccer's global championship has become a huge triumph.
Japan exited in the Round of 16 of the 32-team tournament, while South Korea became the first Asian team to reach the semifinals. It will face Germany here on Tuesday. A victory will set up the intriguing possibility of winning the World Cup next Sunday in, of all places, Japan, which occupied the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 in an often cruel manner.
A victory by South Korea in the final, in Yokohama, Japan, would be viewed by many here as a symbolic payback for colonialist behavior, along with an opportunity to overcome long-held feelings of social and economic inadequacy.
Hundreds of thousands of Korean men were forced into the Japanese military, factories and mines. So-called "comfort women" became sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. The subjugation extended to sports. When the Korean Sohn Kee Chung won the 1936 Olympic marathon in Berlin, he was forced to compete for Japan, using a Japanese name. He also endured the humiliation of listening to the Japanese national anthem and watching the raising of the Japanese flag during the medal ceremony.
During the colonial period, Koreans considered their soccer successes against Japan to be a defiant show of national identity. The imperialists went so far as to demand that the goal posts at one Seoul missionary school be painted black, concerned that white was a show of nationalist fervor, according to Korean soccer officials. Before World War II, the Korean soccer federation was shut down.
"Beating Japan in Japan would be the ultimate payback," said Kim Sun Young, a 31-year-old English teacher here. "But the very fact of winning the World Cup inside Japan would show all the Japanese people `we're No. 1; we're better than you guys.' The oppressors can easily forget what they've done. Victims never forget."
Of course, a loss on Tuesday to Germany, a three-time World Cup champion, would end any title hopes for South Korea. And its soccer officials are quick to distance themselves from talk of historic animosities. "We hope the World Cup will mark the beginning of new relations with Japan," said E. S. Kim, manager of international relations for the South Korean soccer federation.
Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, attended the opening ceremony here on May 31. President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea will attend Sunday's final in Japan, whether his team is involved or not. Numerous cultural exchanges between the two countries are occurring during the World Cup, and the Japanese news media have congratulated the unexpected South Korean success as a triumph for all of Asia.
"I have some bad feelings about Japan, maybe more than young people, but we don't care about history right now," said Yoon Myoung Suk, a 60-year-old housewife. "We're focused on winning."
Yet old tensions simmer. The two countries squabbled on whether the championship should be called the Korea/Japan World Cup or the Japan/Korea World Cup. Not to be outdone, South Korea spent $2 billion in building 10 stadiums to match Japan's construction project, even if many of the arenas remained unfilled for World Cup matches. For the opening match here, Emperor Akihito of Japan sent a cousin in his place, apparently concerned that his presence would incite boos or protests, given that his father, Emperor Hirohito, ruled Japan during its colonial period.
The emperor acknowledged last year that the Japanese royal family line was of Korean ancestry. That admission did not, however, fully heal old wounds. South Koreans became outraged when Prime Minister Koizumi visited a Tokyo shrine honoring Japanese soldiers killed in wartime, including war criminals. Many here also grew incensed when a new Japanese textbook appeared to insufficiently address wartime brutalities. There is a common feeling here that Japan has not adequately apologized for its colonial domination or made reparations for it.
"Passing Japan gives us a huge boost in our national pride," said Bok H. An, a 30-year-old cellphone executive. "One little soccer ball united a whole country. No one ever dreamed we'd get this far. Imagine winning, in Japan! I think it would be bigger than the unification of Korea, in terms of the joy of the people. It would wipe away our past."
That past, as it relates to soccer, has been contentious. In 1954, a year after the Korean War ended, South Korea had to defeat Japan in order to qualify for its first World Cup. Qualifying matches are played on a home-and-away basis, but anti-Japanese sentiment was so rabid that South Korea prohibited the Japanese from playing here. That forced South Korea to play both matches in Tokyo.
According to the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, President Syngman Rhee told the South Korean players, "If you lose, don't even think of crossing the East Sea." Sufficiently admonished, South Korea won the first match, 5-1, and tied the second, 2-2, qualifying for the World Cup.
"We did not go to soccer games in Japan," Han Chang Wha, one of five surviving players from that team, told the newspaper. "We went to war."
Sweet redemption has occurred on other sporting fronts, as well. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Hwang Young Cho won the marathon for South Korea, 56 years to the day after Sohn had won in Berlin. Then 80, Sohn sat in Olympic Stadium as Hwang crossed the finish line ahead of a Japanese runner. Later, when they returned to Seoul, Hwang presented his medal to Sohn.
"Now I can die without any regrets," Sohn said, as reported in "The Complete Book of the Olympics" by David Wallechinsky.
A victory in the World Cup final ・after South Korea failed to win a match in five previous appearances in the tournament - would bring about a "fundamental revolution in the Korean psyche," said Moon Jung In, dean of the school of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul. "Korea will be able to command real respect from the Japanese. It might level off the relationship, making it truly respectful and lasting."
As they have done in previous matches, South Korea's fans, known as the Red Devils, will gather by the millions in plazas around the country to watch the semifinal on giant television screens. Even if South Korea does not win the World Cup, its accomplishment has galvanized a nation, said Im Hyug Baeg, a professor of political science at Korea University in Seoul.
"That World Cup game in Yokohama would be the first step to making Korea an internationalized country," Im said. "It would be a country of the world. Koreans would recover their national pride. They would wash out their inferiority complex. Maybe they've achieved that already."
Dear Mr. Authur .... Jr, I am writing this regarding the article, " " in (日付など)by (名前). The article, we firmly believe, is highly misleading that Japanese soldiers are portrayed as people abusing Korean women (ほかに適当なフレーズあったら・・・). Those horrible acts were done only by few, and IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) had their military tribunal to punish those usually by execution as it is witnessed by many former Japanese soldiers. Therefore we firmly believe that HOW Mr. Longman wrote is historically very misleading. Although you may think that we are reacting too compulsively, it is crucial, as the nature of newspaper company, to tell what is clear, not misleading, and historically accurate.
The article was also misleading that it said that the Koreans paid $2 billion by themselves. However, do understand that Japanese funded $----- to Korea for building these facilities, and there is nothing innaccurate to say that Japan payed majority of the price for the facilities. The original naming of the World cup was "Japan-Korea" (in alphabetical order), and it was after the name was decided to "Japan-Korea" that the Koreans started to argue that Japan was being prioritized. There is nothing wrong in calling this series a "Japan-Korea Cup", I believe.
I firmly believe that reparation of international relationship is as important as recognizing events in the history of mankind. Although we need to remember what few of the Japanese soldiers did to Koreans, but at the same time, we should not have any anti-Japanese or anti-Korean feeling, but rather a feeling of cooperation and unity to restore this international relationships.
>>1はNYTimes紙に一体なにを訴えたいのかが、いまひとつ 分らない。ただ、同紙の記事で Hundreds of thousands of Korean men were forced into the Japanese military, factories and mines. So-called "comfort women" became sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. とある従軍慰安婦と強制連行の件は、いま日本で問題とされている 教科書問題にもかかってくるし、国としてはまだ、この問題に関して 歴史的事実を認めた訳ではないから、それをいかにもあったこととして 報道していることは国際問題にも発展しかねない重要な問題だから その点をTimes紙に指摘すべきだと思う。 そうすると>>54のドラフトにある >Those horrible acts were done only by few, の部分は、日本国民は従軍慰安婦の問題を歴史的事実として認識している と取られかねないので、書くべきではないでしょうね。
>>120&121 おめえら、うるせーぜ。原稿を書いたから、よーく拝め。 I do not like your article. Japan is very, very goood country. Everything is OK in Japan. America has lots of problem. So Japan is better than America. Do you understand it?