Infantino mentions two Koreas' bidding for 2023 Women’s World Cup

Infantino mentions two Koreas' bidding for 2023 Women’s World Cup. March. 05, 2019 07:34. by Seung-Kun Lee why@donga.com.
It has been confirmed that FIFA President Gianni Infantino proposed that South and North Korea jointly submit a bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. After a meeting of the International Football Association Board in Aberdeen, Scotland, Infantino said it would be “great” if the two Koreas jointly host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, according to the AP on Monday.

“FIFA first mentioned the possibility of a joint bid to Korea Football Association (KFA) President Chung Mong-gyu on February 1, the date of the AFC Asian Cup final match,” KFA General Secretary Hong Myung-bo said. "Since it wasn’t an official proposal, we’re waiting for the government’s decision as it is not a matter that we can unilaterally decide."

“We’ve received report from the KFA and the minister is aware of the matter. But there hasn’t been an official discussion on the matter within the government,” said Jeon Byung-geuk, spokesperson of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. "There hasn’t been discussions with North Korea either but we’re reviewing the matter positively."

FIFA last month asked all member countries to submit their “expression‎ of interest” form to host the 2023 World Cup by March 15. According to the AP, Australia, Columbia, Japan, and South Africa have already expressed an interest in bidding. The deadline for applications is April 16 and the host will be decided in March next year.

South Korea submitted its expression‎ of interest form to FIFA in April 2014 to host the 2019 Women’s World Cup but lost the bid to France. South Korea hosted a few FIFA Men’s Tournaments, including Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002, U-17 World Cup in 2007, and U-20 World Cup in 2017 but has never hosted a women’s tournament.