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Friday, 3 May, 2002, 10:49 GMT 11:49 UK
Blatter vows to fight back
Fifa president Sepp Blatter
Blatter will be in Pyongyang on Monday and Tuesday
Fifa President Sepp Blatter is determined to clear his name following allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Blatter insists he will run football's governing body alone if necessary after his right-hand man, Fifa General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, raised the issue of financial mismanagement.

"The General Secretary would do better to work more and play less at being the FBI and CIA," Blatter told Swiss radio.

He went on to say that he had made a mistake in promoting Zen-Ruffinen and described the appearance of his Swiss compatriot before a press conference on Friday as "perfidious".

Fifa vice-president Chung Mong-Joon
Chung Mong-Joon will stage his own visit to North Korea
Zen-Ruffinen submitted a 30-page document to the Fifa executive committee on Friday.

Blatter predicted that he would retain the presidency of Fifa at a vote in Seoul on 29 May - but paid tribute to his closest challenger, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon.

"I have more friends and fans in the world of football than enemies," he said. "I am convinced that I will win.

"Hayatou is the only one from the so-called opposition who embraced me at the start and end of the meeting. He plays very fairly."

Korea trip

A bad day for Blatter on Saturday saw Fifa vice-president Chung Mong-Joon accuse the president of misusing a forthcoming trip to North Korea to boost his bid for re-election.

Blatter is due to visit North Korea next week in a last-ditch attempt to find a symbolic role for the state at the World Cup.

He hopes to persuade the government to let a delegation of football observers and coaches travel to the finals in South Korea and Japan.

But on Saturday Chung, co-chairman of the South Korean World Cup organising committee, questioned Blatter's real motives for making the trip to North Korean.

Chung said: "The visit to the North should be part of a project for football development but it has strong political overtones aimed at the Fifa presidential election.

"I am not accompanying him because I don't support Mr Blatter and on top of this, I was not consulted."

Chung said that he and Hayatou would stage a rival trip to Pyongyang this month.

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