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North Korea World Cup hopes raised by Olympic deal: FIFA
SYDNEY, Sept 11 (AFP) - North and South Korea's agreement to march together at Friday's Olympic opening ceremony has increased the likelihood of the North staging matches during the 2002 World Cup finals, a top FIFA official said Monday. Michel Zen-Ruffinen, the General Secretary of football's world governing body, said the Olympic accord had boosted hopes for a deal under which the communist North would take over one or two of the matches currently allocated to the South, which is jointly hosting the tournament with Japan. "It is another sign that things are moving in the right direction," Zen-Ruffinen said. The FIFA number two stressed however that discussions on the North's involvement were still going on between the two associations and that even if the political issues can be resolved, there would still be technical and logistical obstacles. "It appears that the possibility of staging one or two matches in North Korea is still open but there have been absolutely no commitments from either side. "The first thing is to know if it is feasible in terms of the politics. Then we would have to decide if it is feasible for us.
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