SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea entered the race to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup with a surprise late bid.

"South Korea has notified FIFA of its intention to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup finals," the Korea Football Association said in a statement issued Tuesday, the morning after a deadline for applications set by football's world governing body.

KFA president Cho Chung-yun last month hinted at a bid, but the late announcement came as a surprise.

"There is a strong chance that either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup will come to Asia, but even if there was a 10 percent chance, we would have to get ready," Cho said in an interview with Sports Chosun newspaper. "We want to make the people excited. It was not a sudden decision, we have been looking into this for some time.

"We all know the effect that 2002 had on the people. If we do host the World Cup once again, the effect will be huge."

South Korea reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, which it co-hosted with Japan. That was the first time football's quadrennial showpiece had been held in Asia. The 2010 edition will be staged in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil. FIFA's formal policy to try and rotate the tournament around the continents will end after that.

FIFA will not decide on a host for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments until December next year.

Already confirmed Asian candidates were Japan, Australia, Qatar and Indonesia.

Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam originally said he'd prefer one strong Asian bid, but is not opposed to having five candidates.

"Ideally AFC would like to have seen one bid, which had the support of the whole of Asia," he told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "But we have no problem at all with multiple bids.

"If the AFC Executive Committee decides to support one bid, then it is a different story. But I don't see this happening if the countries insist on continuing with their individual bids.

"Asian countries are right to have such ambitions and it is very encouraging for us to see the level of confidence from our member associations."

Among the other nations that have said they would submit proposals are the United States, England, Russia and Mexico. Despite FIFA president Sepp Blatter saying the preference would be for single-nation bids, the Spanish FA said it would proceed in a joint bid with Portugal. Netherlands and Belgium were also preparing a joint bid.

___

Associated Press Writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.