Amid the furore, Korea's football chief prepares for a shot at the presidency

The World Cup refereeing controversy, which has seen both Italy and Spain eliminated from the tournament because of mistaken decisions, would be a source of ferocious speculation anywhere in the world, but there are few countries where claims of corruption provoke more attention than South Korea.

Even after 15 years of democracy, South Korea remains a place of endemic corruption. Over the years, politicians, business leaders and former presidents have all been publicly shown to have been bought.

Only last week, the current President, Kim Dae Jung, a Nobel peace prize winner and a man with a reputation for integrity, made a public apology after his second son was arrested on corruption charges.

Bruce Cumings, an American historian of Korea, asked: "Why [do] Koreans seem to get so embarrassed every time another scandal is unveiled? It's a bit like Madonna complaining about a violation of her virtue."

There is no hard evidence that anything more sinister than human error is to blame for the refereeing mistakes. But for South Korea the ramifications of the World Cup are about much more than mere football. The success of the national team has the potential to reshape politics.

Within the country, the jubilant public reaction to South Korea's success has already been compared to the events of 1987, when tens of thousands of ordinary people took to the streets to demand an end to the military dictatorship.

Chung Mon Joon, a South Korean MP and Fifa vice-president, said: "You can compare [1987 and 2002] in the sense that the Korean people rediscovered again that we can voluntarily unite ourselves, demonstrate support for the national cause."

No one has more to gain from Korean success in the World Cup than Mr Chung, who even before his Fifa role had an established political and business power base.

As the son of the founder of the Hyundai corporate empire, he was born into one of the most powerful families in the country. As an independent MP, he has already given strong hints that he intends to stand for the presidency when Mr Kim steps down at the end of this year.

And as the man who brought the pride and emotion of the World Cup to his fellow Koreans, he suddenly finds himself one of the most popular men in the country.

As the cameras focused on a beaming President Kim after the team's controversial defeat of Spain on Saturday, Mr Chung was seen chortling alongside him. As the head of the Korea Football Association, he joined the players on the field to take the applause of the roaring crowd.

Mr Chung has not yet formally announced his presidency, but recent polls show that if he did he would be running with a 19 per cent support rate, well behind the two front-runners, but up 10 points on his pre-World Cup ranking.

"I will dream a dream after the World Cup," is the closest he has got to committing himself. But the South Korean media has reported that he is already setting up a network of supporters and has come up with a name for his political vehicle – the Environment Party. "I don't think this phenomenon will evaporate," said Mr Chung. "It will remain in the minds of the Korean people for a long time. The meaning goes beyond football. We have discovered we are one people again."

Such unity is a rare and precious political commodity: If there were football officials willing to put a price on it, there might be many in South Korea who would consider it a price worth paying.