South Korea is setting up a special anti-hooligan taskforce in preparation for next year's World Cup finals, police announced today.
The force, made up of riot police units in each of the ten cities that will host games, will be operational by the end of this month, a year before the tournament takes place in South Korea and Japan.
The units will be equipped with water cannons and backed by trained police dogs and helicopters during operations.
The National Police Agency (NPA) said the unit in Seoul will total 1,000 riot police.
The NPA also announced that it would seek to bar known hooligans from entering the country before or during the tournament.
"It is an unavoidable measure to deal with radical hooligans posing a security threat to the 2002 World Cup," an NPA spokesman said.
"The government will also try to block foreign hooligans who have been engaged in stadium violence overseas before from entering the country."
South Korean authorities will be approaching countries which qualify for the finals and asking them for lists of individuals with a record of hooliganism, the NPA official added.
The NPA said any fans involved in violence in South Korea would be "sternly" dealt with. - AFP