By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
North Korea may have to pay the price, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on June 11 in South Africa, for its recent provocative actions against South Korea.
The unsavory mix of sports and politics will likely be inevitable as a South Korean broadcaster holds the exclusive broadcast rights both in South and North Korea and the government has the final say as to the approval of transmission to the communist North.
Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) said Tuesday that it will not provide the feed unless Pyongyang signs a written promise to help its journalists cover certain issues in the North.
The conditions reportedly include allowing its reporters to cover how North Koreans react to watching certain games of the world's most watched sporting event.
``Our policy has been consistent from day one. No free transmissions,'' said Yang Chul-hoon, a deputy director of the network's news department.
However, Yang was not quite sure whether Pyongyang will agree to comply with its requests, considering the escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the sinking of a South Korean warship near the western sea border with the North in late March.
``North Korean officials have been keen and sincere over the deal, but they appear to be in a difficult position to stick to the original plan," Yang said.
The two sides have failed to hold a working-level meeting, which the North had proposed to have in Beijing on May 5, due largely to the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan.
Investigators have been pointing to a North Korean torpedo attack as the likely cause of the disaster which claimed the lives of 46 sailors.
The fate of transmissions in the North also faces an uncertain future as the inter-Korean broadcasting deal requires government approval.
``In view of the North's recent provocative postures against the South, it is the government position that the North must pay an appropriate price to SBS for the broadcast rights under internationally accepted norms,'' an official at the Ministry of Unification said.
He also did not rule out the possibility of banning broadcasts even after SBS and the North reach a formal agreement, saying that the government may have to reject any request to transmit games to the North for political reasons.
``We did not ask the North to make nuclear bombs and be belligerent,'' he said.
SBS is planning to resume negotiations and conclude the deal later this month or early next month at the latest.
North Korea received a free feed from the games of the 2006 World Cup in Germany during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which practiced a more engaging policy than that of incumbent President Lee Myung-bak.
The expenses of the 150 million won ($132,600) in transmissions were covered by the inter-Korean cooperation fund and broadcast development fund.