(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on June 19)

Win-Win in Soccer

If Politicians Were Half as Good as Athletes

People often compare sports to life, and, in the case of competitive team games,
a war. How about likening it to politics, then?
Many Koreans might have had that thought Thursday morning when they awoke to find
both South and North Korea had just advanced to the 2010 World Cup soccer finals
in South Africa.
The contrasting symbolism is inescapable: In politics, Seoul, far better off in
almost all aspects, is trying to isolate weaker but rowdy Pyongyang from the rest
of the world. In sports, the South saved the North from the brink and helped it
advance to a global stage for the first time in almost half a century.
Manager Huh Jung-moo and his boys deserve compliments for enabling the nation to
win a berth at the quadrennial global soccer festival for the seventh consecutive
time, the first such feat for an Asian country and only the sixth even in the
world. Equally praiseworthy was that the squad passed the Asian qualifying round
with an unbeaten record, also the first in two decades.
It's hard to tell how long the two Koreas will be able to sail through in the
32-nation main tournament, but both must be aiming to, at least, advance to the
second round to be included in the top 16. That may prove to be not easy,
however: The South reached the semifinals at home in 2002, but failed to pass the
first round four years later; the North also rose to the quarterfinals in London
in 1966, but is now nowhere near that level.
The Koreas' previous records and the joint advances to upcoming finals
themselves, however, may be enough to demonstrate the Korean people's superiority
in the mostly widely-loved sport on this planet. Both sides of a divided nation
joining in soccer's top arena is only the second such case in the world's history
after West and East Germany did so in 1974.
Riding on the rekindled soccer boom, the Korea Football Association has applied
to host the 2022 World Cup finals - this time not jointly with Japan. Few can
beat sports festival when it comes to unifying a split country into one, as
witnessed in the "red wave" that swept the country seven years ago. Whether
bringing another finals here can be a profitable business ??? athletically and
economically ??? would depend on how well officials prepare for it.
Looking back, few other sports have reflected the ups and downs of the tumultuous
inter-Korean relationship over the six decades of national liberation. The Koreas
sometimes competed in good sprits and even made a single team on the global
stage, but avoided each other for not just athletic but political reasons at
other times. A case in point is North Korea's recent refusal to play in Seoul,
for which both sides cannot avoid blame.
Can the latest success in soccer be repeated in politics? Hardly, but not
entirely impossible ??? only if ??? and that's a very, very big if ???
politicians are just half as good as athletes.
(END)