The Soccer World Cup, a giant global sport event, will be co-hosted by Japan and Korea next year. In January and February of 2001, there was a dispute between the Soccer associations of Japan and Korea regarding the official title of the event.

The official English title of the Event is the Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup. However, the Japanese domestically referred to the event as the Japan-Korea World Cup. The Korean side protested against the usage of this title in Japan. In fact the Korean protest was so strong that they even suggested to void the agreement to hold the finals in Yokohama, Japan.

Soccer enjoys world-wide popularity, and in certain parts of Europe and South America, the World Cup soccer games are often compared to war. Today, many Japanese are realizing that together with the existence of violent hooligans, the World Cup is, in a way, a sport event that stimulates nationalsm more than does the Olympics.

We have been noticing the growth of a vague anti-Korean sentiment among the younger generations of Japan. This is based on a shallow-founded nationalism driven by the popularity of conservative cultural figures. The "conservative fad" is mostly a reaction against to the enforcement of "progressive" values in Japanese history classes which have been abused for decades as a political tool.

With this anti-Korean sentiment in the background, you will find no difficulty finding postings on the internet protesting against the Koreans trying to control how the Japanese call the games in their own language.

However, it should be remembered that in June of 1996 when it was decided that Japan and Korea are to co-host the games at FIFA, the mass media of both nations glorified the games as the symbol of a new era and relationship for the two neighboring nations. And in 1998 when President Kim Dae-jung visited Japan, it was stated that Japanese-Korean relationships have entered a new era.

As we witness these two facts; the existence of an uncomfortable emotional block between the two nations based on hidden nationalism on one hand, and the coming of a new age where the two neighbors will increase their involvement with each other in business, culture and politics on the other, we must resolve the issue of the title bilaterally to dramtically boost the significance of the co-hosted World Cup event.

Those of you who just skimmed through the surface of our website, especially Koreans or those from corporations we have asked for support, may be under the impression that we are of the opinion that the Koreans should keep their mouths shut regarding the Japanese title of the games since we are, after all, one of the hated and feared rightists.

You cannot be more wrong.

Tetsusenkai accepts both the uneasy crash of nationalism between Korea and Japan, and the increasing mutual involvement of the two countries in all fields. That accepted, we propose the 2002 Soccer World Cup Japan-Korea Korea-Japan Title Exchange Movement using the internet as our main tool, spreading the movement not only in Japan and Korea, but to the rest of the world as well. That is Tetsusenkai's stance toward the new era of Japanese-Korean relationship.

With the above, we are to confirm that the national pride of each nation is mutually honored, realizing the oriental virtue of mutual consession. We think that it is the true spiritual theme of the co-hosted World Cup, the first in history to be held in Asia, to show to the world that "the World Cup is war in the guise of sports" is not an universal truth and that there are different views about sports in the orient.

If you agree that:

• 1) The 2002 World Cup is a precious occasion to promote Japanese-Korean relationship

and

• 2) By exchanging the "Korea-Japan" and "Japan-Korea" titles, we can temporarily seal the uneasy nationalism behind the active relationship between the two nations, demonstrating the oriental spirit of mutual consession to the rest of the world

Kindly take part in the banner link movement described below. If you are unable to place a banner on your website for some reason, but still would like to participate, please send an email to either the governments or the mass media of either country, suggesting the exchange of titles for the games.

Thank you very much for bearing with the long description.

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*The notice of this movement will be mailed repeatedly to the governments and the mass media of Japan and Korea, as well as to corporations sponsering the World Cup, and to Europe and South America where the popularity of Soccer is unrivaled. If you appreciate the spirit of our movement, please, for the sake of history, take part in the banner movement.