Blatter to visit North Korea in last ditch world cup bid Fifa president Sepp Blatter will visit North Korea next week in a last ditch bid to find a symbolic role for the isolated state at the World Cup, Asian soccer officials said on Friday.
Blatter, who is on a globe-trotting campaign to boost his bid for re-election, will be in Pyongyang next Monday and Tuesday, the officials said.
He is to meet the Stalinist state’s top sports officials in a bid to persuade them to let a delegation of football observers and coaches to the World Cup finals in rival South Korea and Japan, which start on May 31.
North Korea has so far steadfastly refused to respond to efforts by South Korea and Fifa to involve the Stalinist state in the World Cup.
An offer by South Korea to let the North stage one or two World Cup matches was ignored. The South also said it was ready to let North Korean players who were good enough join its World Cup squad.
Fifa’s latest initiative was to persuade North Korean football coaches to come to the finals as observers. No response has been made to that offer either, according to Fifa officials.
South Korea may now invite North Korean soccer hero Park Doo-Ik to attend a ceremony with other stars of past World Cups in Seoul on May 30, Korean football officials said.
Park, one of the heroes of the ?Red Mosquitoes? – North Korea’s team which reached the quarter finals of the 1966 finals in England, would be invited to appear with Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Eusebio of Portugal.
Park scored the goal which gave North Korea a 1-0 win over Italy which helped the communist state become the only Asian side to reach the quarter finals. Eusebio scored four second half goals as Portugal fought back to beat North Korea 5-3 in the quarter final.
In Pyongyang, Blatter will offer Fifa assistance to put artificial turf on one of the capital’s main venues, the Kim Il-Sung Stadium, the Asian officials said.
Fifa officials who went to Pyongyang last year said that even if North Korea had wanted to host matches, its facilities were not up to international standards.
An election for the Fifa leadership will be held at a congress in Seoul on May 28 just ahead of the World Cup finals.
Chung Mong-Joon, a Fifa vice president and co-chairman of the Korean World Cup Organising Committee, is strongly backing Issa Hayatou, head of the African Football Confederation, for the presidency, and has strongly condemned Blatter’s leadership.
Chung has campaigned hard for North Korean involvement in the World Cup and success for Blatter in Pyongyang could be a psychological blow for the FIFA president in his re-election effort. – Sapa