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Man Utd star Park prepares to meet `N Korea's Rooney'

Jong Tae-se of North Korea goes for the ball during their match with South Korea in the East Asian Soccer Championships in Chongqing, China, last month. PHOTO: AFP

After playing week in and week out alongside Wayne Rooney, Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung will get his first look at the North Korean version in next week's World Cup qualifier.

Striker Jong Tae-se has earned the nickname "North Korea's Rooney" thanks largely to two sizzling goals scored in last month's East Asian championships.

For his part, the Japan-based Jong is relishing the chance to face Premier League regular Park.

"I know all about Park Ji-sung and am really looking forward to seeing for myself just how good he is," Jong said.

There are some intense rivalries in international soccer but few matches are as politically charged as a meeting between South Korea and North Korea.

Although fighting in the Korean War ended on the battlefield in 1953, the two nations have never signed a peace treaty and are technically still at war.

And despite a recent thawing in relations, divisions are still wide enough that the 2010 World Cup qualifying match had to be moved from the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang because authorities in the north refused to fly the southern flag and play the southern anthem at the match.

FIFA, soccer's international governing body, moved Wednesday's match onto neutral ground at Shanghai, China.

The sides drew 1-1 on their last meeting at last month's East Asian Championships.

North Korea were impressive, despite being reduced to 10 men for much of the game with Jong getting on the scoresheet.

Quickly compared with Rooney by the Seoul press, the 24-year-old striker is fast, powerful and dangerous.

Jong scored 12 goals in 24 games last year for J-League team Kawasaki Frontale, his first full season in Japan's top domestic league, and is being targeted by big clubs both in Japan and South Korea.

The South Korean national team, restricted to three goals in seven Asian Cup matches last summer, would also love to select Jong; after all he is a South Korean citizen.

Born in Japan to South Korean parents, it was only after attending a series of pro-north schools in Japan that Jong asked to revoke his southern citizenship.

This request was refused by the Seoul government which doesn't recognize North Korea as a nation.
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