Team Korea Backed By Nation’s Prayers

Prayer relays, devout ancestral rites, cheering at school gyms…

On June 12, one day ahead of the national football team’s match against Togo, family members of the Korean team calmly await news of a victory.

Football player Lee Young-pyo’s mother Park Jeong-Soon (69, Gyeonggi, Gunpo city) is praying every day. She said, “Not only Young-pyo but also Chun-soo, Ji-sung, Jae-jin will hopefully each put in a goal,” and added “I hope they have a great match and get an opportunity to enter the world stage.” Lee’s wife plans to cheer on her husband with their 14-month daughter at her parents’ home

Park Joo-young’s mother, Kim Ok-Ran (53) got on a plane to Frankfurt, Germany on June 11 to see her son play in person. His father, Park Pil-yong (53), went into a prayer retreat in Gyeongbuk near the east coast on June 12. Members of Daegu Dongkwang Church, the church that Park’s family attends, began a prayer relay on May 28, praying two hours a day, for Park and the Korean team’s success. So far about 500 people have participated.

About 100 teaching staff and all 1,300 students of Daegu Chunggu High School, the school that Park graduated from, will all come to school in red t-shirt on June 13 and cheer him on until late in the night watching the game. Principal Baek Jang-heum said, “A plan is underway to name a road near the school ‘Park Joo-Young Street’ if Park has good results.”

Chung Kyung-ho’s mother Kim Young-ja (50) is planning to cheer with her neighbors in a local market. The residents of 1,700 households at an apartment complex in Incheon, where Lee Eul-yong lives, will get together to cheer. They have agreed to install a large size TV at the apartment’s central fountain and enjoy food made by the women’s society, while heartily rooting for the national team. A person from the apartment superintendent’s office’s said, “Residents didn’t know each other very well after moving in last September, but if Lee puts in the first goal, the atmosphere will be very different.”

June 13 is the anniversary of the death of player Kim Jin-kyu’s grandfather. Kim’s grandmother, who has particular affection for her grandson, and his mother, Jung Kum-ja (53), along with about ten other family members will get together at their home and watch the game together.

Kim Yong-dae’s father, Kim Ho-doo (64) and his mother Sohn Young-soon (57) will offer a prayer at a Buddhist temple in Seoul before going home to South Gyeongsang Province. Kim Doo-hyun’s father Kim Il-dong (48) said, “I told him to just enjoy the game.” He added, “How can the players not be encouraged when all Korean people are coming together as one to cheer them on.”

Incheon Bupyoung High School, the school that players Kim Young-chul and Kim Nam-il graduated from, and Gyeongbuk Andong High School, of which Baek Ji-hoon and Kim Jin-kyu went to, will shorten night study sessions and cheer the Korean team on in the school gym.