South Korea will ensure a tobacco-free 2002 World Cup. This important public health policy will be formally confirmed during the visit of Han Seung-soo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea, during an official visit to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

WHAT: Photo opportunity and brief question and answer session.

WHO:

• Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO
• Han Seung-soo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea

WHEN: Tuesday, 3 July at 19:00

WHERE: Director-General’s Lounge, 7^th Floor, WHO, Geneva.

The kick-off of the 2002 World Cup falls on 31 May 2002, which also happens to be the United Nations-designated World No Tobacco Day. The theme for the 2002 WHO tobacco control campaign is Tobacco-Free Sports.

Since tobacco and sports do not mix, WHO is working with the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) and the World Cup organizing committees in making the World Cup a complete tobacco-free event. South Korea and Japan are co-hosting the 2002 World Cup.

The eventual aim is to make all football matches everywhere tobacco-free events: free from tobacco sales, consumption, promotion and sponsorship.

This first ever tobacco-free World Cup will join the many other tobacco-free sports events supported by WHO. The 2002 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City will also be tobacco-free, a policy that WHO helped craft along with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).