NY Times.com article For South Korea, It's a Grudge Match June 8, 2002 By JERE LONGMAN SEOUL, South Korea, June 7 - The game will not be played until Monday, but South Korea's meeting with the United States in the World Cup long ago became a grudge match. Passion is being stirred by a perceived injustice involving Olympic speedskating as much as by fervent nationalism over soccer. Television commercials promoting the match begin with videotape of an incensed Kim Dong Sung, a South Korean short-track speedskater, tossing his national flag to the ice after being disqualified from the 1,500-meter race last February at the Olympics. His first-place finish in Salt Lake City was rescinded when the officials ruled he had impeded the American skater Apolo Anton Ohno, who was awarded the gold medal. Feelings are still bruised here by what South Koreans feel was a stolen medal. Emotions were left even more raw by Jay Leno, who said in his monologue on "The Tonight Show" in February that Kim was so upset "he went home and kicked the dog and then ate him." Ohno's jubilant celebration was seen by many South Koreans as arrogant, considering that his gold medal was disputed. In wider political terms, the stripping of first place from the South Korean skater, and Ohno's exultant response, were viewed as an example of a superpower bullying a smaller nation. "They believed it was the home-ground advantage," said Moon Jung In, dean of the school of international relations at Seoul's Yonsei University, adding that South Korean anger should be aimed at skating officials, not at the American soccer team. Regardless of any misdirected passion, the soccer game against the United States has taken on a certain edginess beyond the fact that each team won its opening match. For South Korea, a 2-0 victory over Poland this week was its first victory in World Cup appearances dating from 1948. On Monday, euphoric nationalism will be inflamed by the bitter knowledge that Ohno is partly of Japanese ancestry, a sensitive issue in a country that served as a colonial subject of Japan from 1910 to 1945 and remains a fierce rival. "Ohno won out of a fluke," Moon said. "He should have been humble and shown sympathy for the Korean skater. That would have smoothed feelings. Instead, he was leaping out of joy. And he is a Japanese-American. You can see the irony in that. It created the ritualized image - and a backlash - of America as No. 1. "Leno needed to show more cultural sensitivity. He fueled the flames." Kim Jong Pil, a former South Korean prime minister, said at the time that no person so lacking in common sense should be allowed to be the host of a television program. NBC issued a statement, saying neither the network nor Leno intended to offend the South Koreans. "By its nature, comedy can be impolite, and the humor on `The Tonight Show' is no exception," the network said. "People have different opinions about where the lines should be drawn." This subplot has been lost on the American team, which is focused strictly on soccer. Its chances of advancing from round-robin play in this tournament have been bolstered by Wednesday's stunning 3-2 victory over Portugal. "Wasn't the incident in the Olympics snowboarding or something?" Coach Bruce Arena said. The coach has done his part for international relations, allowing team spokesmen to arrange interviews for South Korean journalists with his niece and nephew, Koreans who were born in the Seoul area and adopted by his wife's sister. No hostility is evident toward his team, Arena said. As a sign of hospitality, and to maximize ticket sales, which have lagged, the South Korean government has hired fans to cheer for the United States and the other 14 visiting teams based on the peninsula for the World Cup. The other half of the 32-team tournament is being played in Japan. "We're allies, not enemies, South Koreans and Americans," Arena said. "When I see soldiers serving next to each other at the DMZ, I have a hard time believing there are problems. My impression is just the opposite." A more nuanced view of South Korean-American relations has led the police to consider beefing up security around the American embassy in Seoul for Monday afternoon's game. The game will be played in Daegu, a three-hour train ride southeast of here, but tens of thousands of fans are expected to gather in the capital, at a major intersection near the embassy, to watch the match on giant television screens. The South Korean fans, dressed in red and known as the Red Devils, have been extremely polite so far, even picking up their own litter at the Kwanghwamun Intersection in central Seoul after the seminal victory over Poland. However, police officials have expressed some concern about flag-burning or other anti-American demonstrations near the embassy if the United States prevails. Apart from the speedskating flap, there is some resentment here, especially among younger South Koreans, regarding the continuing presence of about 35,000 American troops. Some have also complained that the United States, benefiting from a long-term military alliance, was granted preferential treatment in April when Boeing was awarded a contract to provide 40 of the next-generation F-15 fighter jets to the South Korean defense forces. Aides to President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea have expressed anxiety that his presence at Monday's match may inadvertently harm relations with the United States if anti-American feelings surface. But the president still plans to attend the match, published reports say. "We are not taking the possibility of an eruption of anti-U.S. sentiment seriously," one presidential aide told The Korea Times, an English-language newspaper. "We believe that our people are mature enough to separate sports from politics." Factories will close on Monday, as will some schools, while others will open for half a day. Many workers will wear red, the team color, to the office. And judging from the fact that three of every four South Koreans saw the opening match against Poland, nearly everyone in the country will be gathered around a television. Coach Guus Hiddink, the Dutchman hired to bring fitness and assuredness to the South Korean team, is now being revered as a corporate icon by editorialists and as the country's most eligible bachelor by contestants in the Miss Korea pageant. So consumed is the country with soccer that only 686 fans paid to watch one baseball game in the South Korean professional league Sunday. However, medical officials called exaggerated some reports that extra doctors are being kept on call at hospitals for fear of a rash of heart attacks during South Korea's matches. Instead, hospitals have long planned for extra duty to handle concerns like terrorism, hooliganism and heat exhaustion, officials said. "If we reach the final eight or four teams, we might have many heart attacks," Kim Kyung Hee, a registered nurse at Seoul National University Hospital, said facetiously. A country that has never before won a World Cup match is daring to dream the impossible - to play for the global championship in Yokohama, Japan, on June 30. Reaching the final would be the ultimate in political paybacks, exponentially superseding a skating flap with the Americans. "Suppose Korea goes to the World Cup final against Japan and wins," Moon said. "All the past could be forgiven."