World Football

North Korea wants match against South moved

02:36 BST, Wed 7 May 2008
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SEOUL, May 7 (Reuters) - North Korea, whose World Cup qualifier against South Korea in March was moved out of Pyongyang because it refused to fly the South's flag, wants to play the second leg outside South Korea, an official said on Wednesday.

The communist North asked soccer's governing body FIFA for the change in venue, but South Korea has no plans to give up hosting the June 22 match.

"We're saying we will let North Korea fly its flag and sing its anthem, but if that's the response they're showing, we're not considering any changes," the South Korean Football Association official said.

The governments of the two Koreas have yet to sign a peace treaty to end their 1950-1953 war, each claiming to be the rightful ruler of the entire peninsula.

North Korea has not allowed a display of the South Korean flag or the playing of the anthem of its neighbour at a public event on its side of the divided peninsula.

Its refusal to do so for the March qualifier led FIFA to move the match to Shanghai, where the teams played out a goalless draw.

The South has permitted the North's flag to be flown and its anthem played.

This is the first time the two Koreas have been drawn in the same World Cup qualifying group in which teams play home and away matches.

South Korea top Group Three in Asian qualifying on four points after thrashing Turkmenistan 4-0. The North beat Jordan 1-0 in February.

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