Top officials of the Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee (JAWOC) confirmed on Friday that they will stick to their original plan and use the term "Japan-Korea" when referring to the 2002 World Cup in Japanese.
JAWOC explained that its original style is based on a Japanese custom of putting the country's name first in these kinds of situations.
The Korean Organizing Committee (KOWOC) recently insisted that the JAWOC use the term "Korea-Japan" when referring to the tourney in both English and Japanese. FIFA, world soccer's governing body, backed KOWOC's position.
On Friday, JAWOC reiterated that it will refer to the tourney as "Korea-Japan" in English.
"Ever since we reached an agreement on this issue with FIFA and the Korean Football Association at out first official meeting in November 1996, we've always referred to the tourney as "Korea-Japan" in English and "Japan-Korea" in Japanese. It's based on our custom and the agreement. We'll follow this style as we've done until now," Junji Ogura, Japan Football Association vice president and JAWOC deputy general secretary, said after Friday's JAWOC meeting in Tokyo.
JAWOC has started printing ticket guides in Japanese without mentioning the country names, per FIFA's instruction. Tickets will go on sale Feb. 15.
"We don't see why they (KOWOC) brought this up now as we've had no problems before," Ogura said.
South Korea and Japan will cohost the 2002 World Cup from May 31-June 30.
Ogura said, "We do not want to make this issue any bigger, and it's better to respect each other to make the cohosting successful."
JAWOC will write a letter soon to FIFA trying to establish better understanding regarding this issue.