"Cohosting is like a three-legged race," Lee Yun Taek, co-chairman of the South Korean World Cup Organizing Committee said last month at the Korea-Japan soccer journalists seminar in Seoul.

"It doesn't work if only one of the two does well. You've got to synchronize your mind with your partner. That's what it means to cohost and is the difficult part of the exercise," Lee explained.

In the two-day conference, hosted by the South Korean National Council, some of the soccer journalists from the two nations got together to trade their opinions about the 2002 World Cup, which the two countries will jointly host. The subjects were varied -- how to promote the World Cup, what to expect from the event, economic prospects, preparation of the two national teams, etc. It was interesting to find out the opinions of the Korean journalists regarding the cohosting of the event.

Kim Dok Ki who works for a major publication, Sports Today, stressed that the hurdle for the cohosts' success on the pitch would be whether the two nations can reach the last 16 in the 32-team tournament. The two countries, he said, should help each other clear this hurdle and the tournament would not be considered a success if either of the two teams failed.

Kim welcomed the arrival of new national team coach Guus Hiddink, noting that the Dutchman has helped to make the Korean players play a speedy game to meet the standard of the international game. But the veteran journalist also had some criticism of Hiddink.

Hiddink took a long vacation right after South Korea's first-round exit from the Confederations Cup without attending any Korean League games to assess the local players at the start of the new season.

Korean economist Kim Bang Hee also emphasized the importance of the two hosts making it to the last 16 for economic reasons. He introduced the so-called "feel-good effect." That is, good results from the home nations will lift the morale of the people in the respective countries. This positive upswing may in turn boost their ailing economies.

According to Kim Bang Hee, South Korea is aiming to take advantage of the World Cup stage in order to promote the quality of Korean products and to show the world that they are at least on a level with Japanese products.

Park Kwang Jai, a reporter from the Munhwa Ilbo -- a major Korean daily -- meanwhile, disclosed the results of a survey that he had conducted with some 100 Korean journalists. The results showed that most of the scribes think that cohosting the event will have positive connotations for the future of the two nations. Park put forward the suggestion of making a new interleague system between the South Korean League and the J. League after the World Cup for the further development of the game.

All of their opinions indicated high expectations for the World Cup and their hopes of establishing a new relationship between the two nations. Hosting a seminar of this kind is an example. It was a return match of last year's Japanese version, which took place in Niigata, one of the Japanese host cities, in November.

But the recent Japanese junior high school history textbook problem has cast a shadow over their reconciliatory efforts.

"The success of the World Cup will help us overcome our unhappy history to establish a friendly relationship, but the recent textbook problem can only put a damper on our efforts," Lee said. "I hope it will be solved as soon as possible."

It's been a month since the KOWOC co-chief said that. But the situation with the textbook problem hasn't improved at all and has only gotten worse.

The significance of cohosting can be seen on and off the pitch. It is more meaningful off the pitch to start cultural exchanges between the two nations and get to know each other to deepen the understanding. Cohosting the World Cup may just function to provide an opportunity to actually start something for that purpose. There are hopes that soccer-loving young generations from the two countries can break through the barriers between the two nations, which their elder generations couldn't do. The two countries have just started activities of that kind.

However, the frustrated South Koreans decided to retain restrictions on Japanese cultural imports while announcing the cancellation of various activities involving Japan as a protest against the Japanese government, which refused to rewrite some history textbooks. As recently as Friday, it was reported that some high school students in Busan held a protest demonstration in front of the Japanese Consulate.

Some say that sports and politics should be separated from one another. But in reality, this is not the case. Many countries, for example, boycotted the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. The Yugoslavia national soccer team was banned from international competitions, such as the 1992 European Championship and the 1994 World Cup, for a few years because of its civil war.

On July 13, Yasuhiko Endo, general secretary of the Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee, and his Korean counterpart Moon Dong Hoo met in Kobe and confirmed that the two organizations will maintain close cooperation to prepare for next year's World Cup. Endo reportedly said, "We'd like to work together, bearing in mind that KOWOC's problem is ours and our problem is theirs."

With less than a year to go to the World Cup, the longer it takes to solve the textbook problem, the more the two nations will suffer in various areas, including the World Cup marketing campaign. This is a golden opportunity for the two countries to forge a new relationship for the future.

Can Japan handle a three-legged race with its partner? Timely and sincere efforts should be made before it's too late.