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Korea take bronze haiku

Crispin Thomas

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 politics aside

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 give or take a fan banner

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Korea take the bronze

© CT12

Notes

Japan 0 S.Korea 2 -3rd Place pay off for bronze Olympics London 2012
BBC News: The International Olympic Committee has told South Korea to bar one of its footballers from the bronze medal ceremony after he held up a political message after the team beat Japan.

The slogan was said to refer to a long-running dispute about islands which both South Korea and Japan claim.

Friday’s match came hours after South Korea’s president visited the islands, known as Dokdo in South Korea and as Takeshima in Japan, sparking a row. The move prompted Japan to recall its ambassador in Seoul. After the game, a player was photographed brandishing a sign allegedly asserting South Korea’s sovereignty over the islands.
Known as Dokdo (Solitary islands) in Korea, Takeshima (Bamboo islands) in Japan Also known as Liancourt rocks
Claimed by Japan and South Korea, but occupied by South Korea since 1954. Just 230,000 sq m in size, with no fresh water
But surrounding waters valuable for their fishing
The committee urged the South Korean Olympic committee to take “swift action on this issue” and said the player should not be present at the medal ceremony, which took place on Saturday.

Football’s governing body, Fifa, said it had opened a separate investigation to discipline the player.

A Korean Football Association official later named him as Park Jong-woo, 23.

Park had taken the sign – which reportedly read “Dokdo is our land” – from a fan after the match, stressing that the incident was not pre-planned.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/korea-take-bronze-haiku/