The Conflictual Legacy of the Korea-Japan Joint World Cup

There has been a confrontational structure to the relationship between Korea and Japan for several years, as the South Korean government reneged on the Japanese military “comfort women” agreement, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on compensation for forced laborers led to Japanese restrictions on Korean exports. In tandem with these developments, anti-Japanese sentiment in Korean society has been growing stronger, as have anti-Korean attitudes in Japanese society. This article suggests that the experience of the 2002 Korea-Japan joint World Cup was not conducive to better relations, but was rather the starting point of the current xenophobia within each country in relation to the other.