Park Seh-jik, head of the organizing committee for the 2002 World Cup finals announced Sunday that he had been put under pressure from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MOCT) to resign so that it could place a political appointee in his place. Park said that he had no intention to resign as he was carrying out his duties faithfully and would not submit to political plotting.


A MOCT official said that the government had decided to replace Park as he was mismanaging the committee and causing problems with international relations. Rumors name either ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) adviser Cho Se-hyung or former prime minister Lee Hong-ku as Park's replacement.


The 71 organizing committee members are divided over the issue with some preparing a request for a meeting and discussions regarding the replacement, while others are standing firmly behind the incumbent Park. They say that the head of such an important event should not be a political appointee being rewarded for favors.


The senior advisory council for the 2002 World Cup sent a statement to the president on June 21 saying that replacing the committee head now when issues are pending would cause confusion.


Park headed the Seoul Olympics committee 1988 and was appointed to guide the World Cup committee in 1998 when he was a United Liberal Democrat Assemblyman. He was unanimously reconfirmed as head of the committee in January 2000.


(Kim Dong-seok, ds-kim@chosun.com)