ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Senior officials from both the Japanese and Korean World Cup organizing committees said Saturday they expected to learn many things from the cohosted Euro 2000 Soccer Championship, but emphasized that the 2002 World Cup was a different kettle of fish with its own attendant problems.
Speaking at a media presentation in Rotterdam, Japan World Cup Organizing Committee general secretary Yasuhiko Endo and his Korean counterpart, Choi Chang Shin, both said Euro 2000 offered lessons for 2002, but the cohosting of a tournament between two adjacent continental countries -- Belgium and the Netherlands -- was different from Japan and South Korea, which are separated physically, as well as culturally and linguistically.
"The geographical situation for Japan and South Korea is different because the sea separates the two countries," Endo pointed out. "Here, the countries are reachable (from each other) by car and by train. It's much easier than having to travel by plane."