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Some Perspective, from LiNK

No micrometer is precise enough to measure how little I care about the World Cup, but I’d be the last to begrude anyone some apolitical fun. After all, haven’t we all heard how soccer brings the world together?

5 Responses

  1. I have a miniscule more amount of interest in the World Cup than Joshua and since Monday have heard “congratulations” (because of Australia’s win over Japan) from countless people I have encoutered and even phone calls from some I haven’t heard from in a while. To most of the well intentioned people I replied that it was good that Australia won the game but the far better news for me was the release of the ten North Korean refugees from Loas the day before. And then silence!!

  2. Ah, the agnoy of defeat as shown by the pictures of no clue young drunk bimbos. Do they even know the rules of the game?

    Chosun Ilbo reported some disturbing observations of new “hooligans” running amok and out of control fan behaviors. Sad picture of young “whores” doing pretend sexual acts on top of car (how does this relate to the games anyway – guess doing typical whore thing when you’re just a whore). Drunks crossing the road and stopping traffic doing the “acrobats”, causing damages to cars incluidng breaking of bus windows. One fool even did a strip show on top of public bus. So this is cheering? Gag me.

    And what’s this thing about “unofficial” holiday on Mon since the game against France (who won the title in 1998) is going to begin at 4 AM? Yeah, get drunk all night/morning and just in time for morning commute create more havoc.

    It was not close to this bad when it was held in Korea 4 yrs ago. It’s sad cheering spirit like this which really put damper on the spirit of the sports.

    Gee then why are these fans avoiding the K-league in droves with pathetic almost empty stadiums? Is it for the love of soccer or merely moronic near-hooliganism drunk frenzy fed by the media?

  3. Gee then why are these fans avoiding the K-league in droves with pathetic almost empty stadiums? Is it for the love of soccer or merely moronic near-hooliganism drunk frenzy fed by the media?

    No, it’s narcissistic nationalism to the extreme. Korea doesn’t care about the World Cup, they care about the rest of the world watching Korea in the world cup, giving them the attention they’re convinced they’re not getting. It’s like an angsty teenager in nation-state form.

  4. I did see something encouraging this morning at the Kwanghwamun intersection (the heart of the World Cup gatherings). A civic movement has set up tables and displays of the 2002 South/North Korean naval battle urging everyone not to forget the sacrifice of those six sailors killed.