World Cup 2010 Preparations - Seoul
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past several weeks you will more than likely be aware that the 2010 World Cup starts later today with the hosts South Africa taking on Mexico in the opening fixture. You would not believe how ecstatic I am to have the kick-off less than 24 hours away.
The group matches take place at 8:30pm, 11pm, and 3:30am local time but, despite that fact, my goal is to catch every game of the tournament. The final two games of each group in the opening round take place simultaneously - which would make this a difficult task for me to accomplish at home - but there are a few places in town where I'll likely be able to see both games outdoors on different televisions. I know a chicken restaurant on the other side of Uijeongbu Station that was showing all of the European Championship games in the middle of the night and I fully expect the World Cup to receive a similar treatment.
Which does raise the question -- where to watch the World Cup? The relative lack of popularity in the United States made public viewing impossible but here in Korea there will be large screens set up in multiple locations for fans to watch the Red Devils (Korea's national team) if nothing else. One of the lasting images from the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup was seeing hordes of fans take to the streets in the area around Seoul City Hall any time the home team played -- and while the crowds might be smaller this year there will more than likely be an equal level of excitement.
Seoul Plaza, outside City Hall, summer 2002. Each of those red dots is a person.
However, issues were raised about where to watch the World Cup in the nation's capital -- with a very real fear that the big corporations with advertising screens in downtown Seoul wouldn't be broadcasting the games. This prompted the official Korean supporters' group - also called the Red Devils - to boycott Seoul Plaza as a meeting point for World Cup games, with the area around the COEX Mall (Bongeunsa Temple) suggested as an alternative. An English-language article from the Korea Times adds:
The Red Devils announced Monday they will root for the South Korean team at COEX square in southern Seoul during each of its group stage matches on June 12, June 17, and June 23.
This time, it did not opt for Seoul Plaza, where the mass cheering originated at the 2002 World Cup, claiming it did not want to be "exploited" by commercialism as the use of the square has already been booked by big-cash companies.
However, later in the article comes a statement from Park Hee-soo, the Culture and Sports Division Manager of Gangnam District Office (where the COEX Mall is located), that suggests that he had only been appraised of the situation that same morning -- which may lead to some frenzied preparations. However, earlier today I heard that an understanding has been reached between the Red Devils supporter group and the corporations who own the large screens near Seoul Plaza. With no source to cite on that it's possible that the Red Devils won't be in attendance, but even if they aren't there should be plenty of other pro-Korea supporters gathered outside City Hall.
For a list of other locations in Seoul showing the games and directions on how to reach them I would recommend this post from Shannon Heit on the Seoul City Blog.