Snippets from Asia

The South Korean government has freed the World Cup squad from military service as a reward for making the quarter-finals, the Defence Ministry said. Under a revised military law, the players will have to spend only four weeks learning the basics of being a soldier rather than the normal 26 months obligatory for all fit and healthy young men, a ministry official said.

"I guess this is a token of appreciation," he said. "In this World Cup, they (football players) have promoted our country's name and saved its face, which is an important Asian notion, and the exemption is one of the ways for our government to say, thank you, you deserve it," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

South Korean newspapers said captain Hong Myung-bo had asked President Kim Dae-jung after the team's 1-0 win over Portugal to consider changing the law to help younger players prepare unhindered for the next World Cup in Germany in 2006. Kim said he would look into it.

Klose to dedicate goal to Walter

Germany's scoring sensation Miroslav Klose said Fritz Walter would be in his heart as he chases more goals in tomorrow's World Cup quarter-final against the United States.

Klose said he had been deeply moved by the death on Monday of the captain of West Germany's 1954 World Cup-winning side, who once graced his Kaiserslautern club.

"He was always happy when I scored a goal for Kaiserslautern," said the tournament's joint leading scorer with five goals. "He used to send me postcards and bottles of wine.

"He followed my career and we talked a few times. He will never be forgotten in our family. He will always be in my heart and if I score against the United States, I'll dedicate the goal to him."

Joao Pinto ban covers club

Portugal forward Joao Pinto has been provisionally suspended from playing club as well as international football after he punched a referee at the World Cup finals, FIFA said yesterday.

FIFA communications director Keith Cooper confirmed that the suspension announced on Tuesday stops Pinto from playing for his Portuguese premier league club Sporting Lisbon.

"He can't play for his club," Cooper said. FIFA's disciplinary committee has yet to make a decision on any final punishment for the incident in Friday's first round 1-0 defeat by South Korea, when Joao Pinto punched Argentine referee Angel Sanchez after being sent off.

Players are not allowed to touch the referee.

Pinto faces the prospect of a long international match ban, which could rule him out of at least the first stages of the 2004 European championship finals in Portugal.

Japan blame Byrom for empty seats

Japan's World Cup organisers criticised FIFA's ticket operating agent Byrom over a slip-up that left a block of 700 seats vacant at the home team's last game of the tournament.

"Byrom PLC, which is in charge of the management of seating, mistakenly configured these seats as 'killed seats' when allocating the seating for the match," organisers JAWOC said in a news release.

The match was the last chance for the co-hosts' fans to see their team play in the tournament, as Japan were knocked out when they lost the match against Turkey 1-0.

Problems with ticketing and empty seats dogged the early stages of the World Cup, especially in co-host country South Korea. JAWOC have said they will wait until after the tournament before deciding whether to push for compensation.

The World Cup ends in Yokohama, Japan on June 30.

Firms made to pay after shock win

South Korean firms are having to honour pledges of gifts ranging from cash to computer screens linked to progress in the World Cup after the national team's shock win over Italy to reach the quarter-finals.

The country's second-largest computer maker Trigem Computer Inc said it would give out 3,000 cutting edge computer monitors worth 400,000 won ($325) apiece after a promotion linked to South Korea making it to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Daewoo Motors will cough up one million won to customers who purchased a certain compact car model between May and June last year after Korea beat Italy 2-1 on Tuesday.

Additional promotions are linked to the team making it even further in the competition.

KTF, South Korea's second largest mobile carrier, is offering one million won to customers who subscribed between June 4 to June 30 if Korea makes it to the semi-finals by beating Spain. They had an earlier cash promotion for a place in the last 16.

Three outsiders in last eight

South Korea's dramatic golden-goal victory over Italy on Tuesday means that, for the first time in World Cup history, three teams from outside Europe and South America are in the last eight.

Statistics show that the 2002 World Cup is far and away the most topsy-turvy of the 17 staged to date because there had never before been more than one nation in the quarter-finals from outside the traditional powerbases of the game.

Since 1970, only hosts Mexico in 1986 and Cameroon in 1990 had broken the dominance of Europe and South America.

South Korea, Senegal and the United States have struck a mighty blow for soccer's 'third world' as all five of FIFA's participating continental confederations will now take part in the quarter-finals for the first time.

North vs. South Korea

North Korean officials have yet to endorse a planned post-World Cup match against South Korea. The charitable wing of the European Union chamber of commerce in Seoul has helped to arrange the match, which is scheduled to be played on September 6 in Seoul's World Cup stadium. North Korea, who last played South Korea in 1993, did not even enter the qualifying tournament for this year's finals in South Korea and Japan.