"Expanding the budget for replacing Sangam grass"... Will it get rid of the stigma of "Nondureung"?

[Anchor]
Recently, the third Asian qualifying match for the North-China World Cup, home game against Iraq, was held at Mir Stadium in Yongin, not Sangam in Seoul after twists and turns.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced its plan to expand next year's budget, saying it will improve the state of grass at the Sangam World Cup Stadium, which has been stigmatized as the "Nondureung Lawn."

I'm reporter Cha Jung-yoon on the report.

[Reporter]
Smooth passes and light movements.

Our national team's performance, which beat Iraq, a powerhouse in the Middle East, 3 to 2, was much better than the last Palestinian match.

The national team players, who played in Yongin, not Sangam, due to grass problems, made a bone-chilling request to create a good environment for the development of Korean soccer.

[Lee Jae-sung / Korean national soccer team (last 15th): I don't think I was in the best condition. But I think it was more satisfying than the last game. We will have to continue to play in the future, and I hope many people will pay attention to it.]

The grass issue at Sangam World Cup Stadium was also on the cutting board at the National Assembly's parliamentary audit.

[Woo Seong-gon / Democratic Party member (last 15th): We rented a stadium and received 8.3 billion won in rental income, but we only used 120 million won for maintenance.]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon apologized for the lack of management and said he would come up with various measures to prepare for the heat next year.

[Sehun Oh / Mayor of Seoul (last 15th): To put it as an excuse, this year, it has been damaged more severely than any other time due to the heat wave. Next year, we will prepare cooling fans and various devices to alleviate the heat wave.

It has been confirmed that the Seoul Facilities Corporation has requested about 3 billion won from the Seoul Metropolitan Government for next year's grass replacement budget.

It is 12 times larger than the 250 million won budget for grass replacement and additional expenses set this year, and we are also considering replacing the existing Korean paper grass with a heat-resistant Nanji grass.

The budget for replacing grass at Sangam-dong World Cup Stadium is expected to be finalized after deliberation by the city council in mid-December this year.

I'm YTN's Cha Jung Yoon.

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Image: Byun Ji-young