Physically Challenged Persons of Korea and Japan Cooperate For World Cup

The physically challenged persons of Korea and Japany began to travel across the country by wheelchair, hoping the 2002 World Cup to be a festival of both physically challenged and unchallenged persons.

`The Physically Challenged Persons` Country Travel Group of Korea and Japan` (honorary president: Chung Mong-Joon, president of Korea Football Association) had a departing ceremony in the square of Pusan station on Saturday. The 9 organizations for the physically challenged persons such as `Seoup DPI` and `Pusan Physically Challenged Persons Federation` participated in the group.

This event was named as `TRY 2001` implicating `for the cooperating World Cup`. 50 physically challenged persons, including 20 Japanese, participated in this event, and the participants reached 250 in total, combining the partial participants and volunteers. And the course totals 550 km, from Pusan, through Ulsan, Kyungju, Daegu, Kimcheon, Chupoonryung, Daejon, Cheonan (the Independence Hall of Korea), Pyongtaek, Suwon, Ansan, Siheung, Incheon to Seoul.

The participants will investigate the mobility and the accessibility of the physically challenged persons, visiting the stadiums in the World Cup hosting cities through the national and local highways. They plan to check the facilities for the physically challenged persons within the train, moving through train in the sections between Kyungju and Daegu.

On August 4, the participants will hold a memorial ceremony to cherish the late Kim Soon-Seok, who left behind the note in 1984, appealing to make the streets on which the physically challenged persons can move easily and comfortably.

They also plan to hold a rally wishing the successful hosting of the World Cup and requesting guarantee of the physically challenged persons` rights of mobility, while marching 27.2 km from the Sangam World Cup Stadium to Seoul Station in the Independence Day which will be the last day of the country crossing event. The director of this event, Chae Jong-Geol (40) said that ``we will plan to investigate the problems blocking the physically challenged persons` rights of mobility and accessibility, and to request to fix those problems, in order for the World Cup to be a all peoples` festival``.

Jo Young-Hwi silent@donga.com