South Koreans marked D-300, 300 days until the opening of the 2002 World Cup soccer finals here, in various events and a national publicity campaign Saturday.
The main ceremony was held at 7:00 p.m. at the National Theater
in Changchung-dong, central Seoul, by the Korean organizing
committee for the World Cup (KOWOC).WOC).
Twenty six honorary ambassadors selected for a worldwide
publicity campaign received letters of appointment. Among them,
soprano Jo Su-mi and cellist Jang Han-na staged a commemorative
concert for the country's successful World Cup hosting.
Audiences at the ceremony were shown an animated film of the
World Cup's official mascots Ato, Nik and Kaz and video film of the Taejon World Cup stadium, which made its debut to the
public.
Earlier in the day, a civilian group calling itself "World Cup
Devotees" led by Rep. Chung Dong-young of the ruling Millennium
Democratic Party (MDP) and the Korea Highway Corp., held a
ceremony at the Kungnae-dong tollgate in Seoul to simultaneously
light up a sign saying "World Cup D-300" at 36 highway electronic
signboards nationwide.
The group handed out badges and stickers to drivers on the
highway to publicize the international soccer event.