By Cho Jin-seo
The government will give its “full support” to FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon if he decides to run for the presidency of the world football’s governing body next May against Sepp Blatter, the sports minister of Korea told The Korea Times on Wednesday.
This is the first time for the government to officially confirm support for Chung’s possible bid against the incumbent president Blatter, because it was feared that he could influence Korea’s bid for the 2022 World Cup. FIFA will announce the host nations for both 2018 and 2022 events on Dec. 2.
Yu In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that he hopes Korea scores a hat trick in sports politics by winning the FIFA presidency, the bid to host the 2022 World Cup football finals and the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will all be decided by next summer.
“The government will actively support (Chung). We need as many representatives in international organizations as possible,” Yu said at the G20 Seoul Summit pressroom on Wednesday. “It would be really nice if we can have both the World Cup and the (FIFA presidency). That would be great news,” he said.
It would also be bad news for Blatter, who happens to be visiting South Korea at the moment. He met President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday and praised Korea’s readiness in its bid for the 2022 World Cup. He also received the Order of Merit for Sports.
Chung himself has remained deliberately ambivalent on the issue. Last month, he showed mastery in his ambiguity by announcing at a press conference that he “is not thinking about the election” as he is only focusing on the World Cup bid.
But he is a man not short of ambition. He is a major shareholder of Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, and has been a member of the National Assembly since 1988. He also ran for the presidency of South Korea in 2002, right after the country successfully hosted its first World Cup finals. Chung was the president of the Korea Football Association that time.
A survey by worldfootballinsider.com also supports Chung over Blatter, as 51.5 percent of some 1,600 readers favored Chung, against 30 percent who favored Blatter.
Yoo said that the chance of accomplishing all three objectives is slim. “It is very difficult, because we need to work on the Olympic bid and the World Cup bid at the same time,” he said. He also said he knows Blatter wants to hold on to his position at FIFA.
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