Reunion One Year After Preliminaries for US World Cup

Ever since the Korean Peninsula divided, soccer has served as a war field between two Koreas and sometimes as a medium unifying the two.

The 2002 North-South Soccer Match, which will be held on September 7 at Seoul World Cup Stadium, is an official soccer match between the two since the A-match in Malaysia 9 years ago. In December 1993, women’s teams of the two took on each other in Asian Women’s Cup. Nominally, it’s a match. But in substance, it’s more like a festival of harmony.

▽ Kyung-Pyong Match, Origin of North-South Match = The soccer match between North and South traces back to the Kyung-Pyong Match under Japanese Occupation, which drew the attention of the whole nation at that time. From 1920, soccer teams were organized nationwide. Among those, the strongest were Kyung Sung (currently, Seoul) Team and Pyong Yang Team. The Kyung-Pyong Match took place for the first time on Oct. 8, 1929, at Hui Moon High School in Seoul. The final victory after 3 games went to Pyong Yang (2 wins and 1 draw). Ever since, the match had been held once a year alternatively in Seoul and Pyong Yang. But 1935, it was discontinued due to the heated competition and disputes over the judgment. After the independence in 1945, it was held only once in March of 1946 at Seoul Stadium (now, Dongdaemoon Stadium). The match ended with the division of the Korean Peninsula. In terms of the total records, Pyong Yang Team beat its opponent with 9 wins, 7 ties and 5 losses.

▽ Match in Earnest = After the Korean War, North and South had not had a chance to face each other until early 1970s. For one, North had not participated in international matches held in Asia. For another, South had intentionally avoided facing North or participating in a game if it was known that North team was strong.

On May 6, 1976, North and South met for the first time in an international game. It was the 18th Asian Youth Cup in Bangkok. South was beaten 0-1. For the second time, South took on North in 1978 at the semifinal of the 20th Asia Youth Soccer Championship, and beat North in penalty kick shootout 6-5. The caption at that time was Park Hang-suh, the present coach of the national team.

The first A match between the two took place in December 1978 at the final of the Bangkok Asian Game. The match ended up a tie (0-0) even after the extended periods. Thus, players of the two stepped on the stage and received the medals standing next to each other. After that, national teams and youth teams of the two had faced each other three times each. Then, on October 11 (Pyong Yang) and 23 (Seoul), 1990, North and South held Unification Soccer Match. In the first game, the North won 2-1, and South 1-0 in the second.

▽ Stage of Harmony, Unified Team of Youth = With the atmosphere for harmony, triggered by the Unification Soccer Match, building up, the North and South participated in the 1996 World Youth Cup held in Portugal as a unified team “Korea”. By advancing to the final of the Asian Youth Cup, both of North and South obtained the eligibility for participation. Then, they agreed to join their teams. To balance out, the head coach was appointed by the North (Ahn Sea-wook), and the coach and captain were by South (Nam Dae-shik and Lee Tae-hong, respectively). And the team itself consisted of 9 players from each. The unified Korean Team showed off the power of Koreans by advancing to the semifinal after beating Argentina in the first game.

Men’s national teams of the two fought with each other for the last time in the Asian preliminaries for US World Cup held in October of 1993. South beat North 3-0, and got to advance to the main tournament with the blessing of North Korean players since Japan tied with Iraq 2-2.

Sung-Won Joo swon@donga.com