Political football

JAPAN'S prime minister could not have picked a more propitious time to travel to South Korea. After months of high tension last year, the two countries at last seem to be rubbing along a bit better. They have little choice if they want the 2002 World Cup soccer competition, which they host together this summer, to be a success. Junichiro Koizumi's three-day visit to Korea, which started on March 21st, and his meetings with Kim Dae Jung, South Korea's president, seem intended to build on a new sense of partnership. But will the current friendliness last? There are two obstacles: Japan's continued reluctance to make full amends for its wartime atrocities, and its hawkish stance towards North Korea.