Lee Sang-duk (43) and his son, Dong-gun (9) both wore Red Devils T-shirts. “He’s having such a good time I don’t even realize that my neck aches. Thanks to the World Cup, I can now have a heartfelt conversation with my son. Before, it seemed like we were living in different worlds.”

The same afternoon, Park Yong-hee (81) and her son Kim Ok-sun (59) held hands and shouted “Daehan Minguk!” at the Asiad Stadium in Busan. Daughter Kim said, “Cheering with my mother makes me forget our age difference.” The World Cup is certainly melting the ‘generation gap’ between millions of parents and their children. Older women come out in full force at any street or outdoor cheering venue.

The women Red Devils are the fashion trend leaders, sporting Red Devils horns on their heads, newly-designed clothes made of Korean flags, and wearing soccer-ball-shaped hats with face painting on their cheeks. Homemaker Kim Sang-hee (30, Busan) says, “The newspapers are covered with World Cup related articles so I came to learn about the history of soccer and the players. The soccer game is like a living drama. I study the sport of soccer by looking up information on the Internet and in newspapers, and now I’m just as good as my husband,” she boasts.

The World Cup has helped break down the walls within the stark city. As cheering naturally becomes a neighborhood festivity, this lets people discover their neighbors. At the Hyundai Apartment complex in Yangjeong-dong, Busan, 1,500 families gather in the basement parking lot on Tuesday afternoon to cheer on the Korean team together. Womenfolk prepare beverages and cookies and the neighborhood soccer team heightens the merriment by banging on drums and clanging on small gongs.

Director Kang Seok-gweon of Busan says, “Before the World Cup, our people were selfish individuals searching for only their share -- lonely and lost in the crowd -- but this event has melted all the shadows of the 20th century like a smelting furnace.” (Park Ju-young, park21@chosun )