A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

 . Slump provokes withering looks . `` The teacher was hurt by his student in a 

barbaric way , '' said Kwag . `` Our pride was hurt . This feeling will not go a

way soon . '' Admitting it is flagrantly ignored , he added : `` We don't think 

this import ban means much . But we need something to remind the Japanese that t

hey need to frankly admit their acts and do something to comfort Koreans . '' Su

ch attitudes perplex many Japanese . Although they understand the emotion and fe

el a sense of guilt , many wonder what they can do about it today and why Korean

s cling to hatreds a half-century after the colonial period . For their part , a

 growing number of Japanese scholars are starting to acknowledge Korean influenc

e on Japan 's culture . However , many view Korea largely as a bridge through wh

ich Chinese culture passed to Japan . The tea ceremony , for instance , originat

ed in China and was introduced by Korea to Japan . Despite the passage of time ,

 the Korean sense of `` han '' still comes up at surprising times . Etsuo Miyosh

i , a Shikoku island glove maker , decided to close his factory in Korea in 1989

 because rising labor rates made it unprofitable . Korean labor activists protes

ted at his Shikoku headquarters , coming by the busloads from nearby Osaka . `` 

They said : ` You occupied us for 35 years ! This is a historical problem ! ' I 

couldn't say anything , '' Miyoshi recalled . Japanese officials were likewise s

tartled when then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa visited South Korea in 1992 . H

e was told by then-president Roh Tae Woo that Japan was obliged to provide econo

mic assistance because it was better off than Korea , which was having hard time

s . The meeting eventually resulted in the establishment of a joint foundation f

or scientific and technical cooperation , and a package to promote Korean export

s in Japan . Still , Roh 's logic was lost on many Japanese . `` Probably a lot 

of Japanese couldn't understand this . Economic relations and private business a

re not like an older brother helping a younger brother , '' said a Japanese Fore

ign Ministry official . `` If it 's profitable , they 'll do it . If it 's not ,

 they willn't . '' Katsuhiro Kuroda , dean of Japanese correspondents in Seoul a

s the Sankei Shimbun 's bureau chief , said the resentment toward Japan may be a

 form of `` self-confirmation '' for Koreans . `` Perhaps because Korea was cons

tantly invaded from long ago , they can unite themselves '' by harboring collect

ive grudges against an external enemy , Kuroda said . `` It is not necessary for

 we Japanese to get excited about it . '' ( Begin optional trim ) Some Koreans a

gree . Lee Jan Soo , a popular producer with the Seoul Broadcasting Station , is

 airing a 16-part series , `` The Ghost Is Going , '' that examines what he argu

es is a basic lack of identity among Koreans . He asserts that a true national i

dentity has not been allowed to bloom under the overwhelming influence of Chines

e culture , which Korea absorbed as a vassal state until the late 19th century ,

 the Japanese colonization , and today 's hybrid of Japanese and Western pop cul

ture . The series aims its barbs not only at the Japanese , but also at Koreans 

who slavishly imitate their ads , TV shows and fashions . `` It is not important

 to assert that Japanese culture is actually Korean culture , '' Lee said . `` W

hat we need to do is rediscover Korean identity . '' He says Korean identity is 

so diluted that the first page of middle-school textbooks reads : `` Contribute 

to the common prosperity of humankind . '' In Germany , the textbooks say : `` B

e a good German , '' he said . Asked what , exactly , represents Korean culture 

, Lee himself falters . Maybe `` arirang , '' the traditional folk song , he mus

es . Or `` hanbok , '' the brightly colored traditional woman 's dress . Yet Lee

 and others lament that such culture is not widely known outside Korea . `` We n

eed to be assertive , '' he said . That is precisely Kim 's aim as he nudges his

 nation to lift the ban and put old grudges behind . Thanks to a generational sh

ift , increasing economic ties and new political overtures between Kim and Japan

 's coalition government , a growing number of Koreans seem ready to mend fences

 . ( End optional trim ) Just as Japan absorbed Chinese culture through Korea ce

nturies ago , Koreans are absorbing Western culture through Japan today imitatin

g everything from Japanized grunge fashions and torn jeans to henna-dyed hair . 

And then there are the ubiquitous comic books . About 200 kinds command 70 perce

nt of the market , most of them pirated . But even as sixth-graders snap them up

 , they do not forget their lessons in political correctness . `` Japan is a bad

 country , '' said Song Ju Hwan , a sixth-grader at Kwan Ak Primary School in Se

oul . `` They attacked Korea and beat Koreans in older days . I 'm going to stri

ke them back ! '' she added , with a rambunctious punch in the air . Indeed , Ko

rea-Japan relations continue to have their bad moments . One of the hottest best

-sellers is `` Japan Is Nothing , '' by Chon Yo Ok , a former Tokyo corresponden

t for the Korean Broadcasting System . The book castigates everything from Japan

 's cramped homes to its sexism and racism to its `` infantile '' culture . Judg

ing from casual interviews , a fair number of Koreans have read it and shifted t

heir image of Japan from bad to worse . `` Underneath the economic might , there

 is a people whose history is dirty , whose culture infantile and who are discon

tented and twisted , '' Chon writes . `` Koreans and Japanese may look alike , b

ut they are a world apart . '' But , in general , Muto and others say the long a

nd uneasy relationship between the two peoples is definitely on the mend .

 TAKE YOUR CHOICE `` Stocks will decline slowly over the next several months , w

ith the Dow Jones average dropping from its high of 3,978 to about 3,200 . '' ( 

Michael Metz , chief strategist , Oppenheimer & Co. ) .. . `` We 're very positi

ve on stocks because profit growth and cash flow look excellent . We recommend 7

5 percent in stocks . '' ( Abby Joseph Cohen , Co-Chairman , Goldman Sachs ' Inv

estment Policy Committee ) JUNE JOURNAL `` Workers are adding more stock funds t

o their 401 ( k ) s and IRAs . Even people whose sole investments are 401 ( k ) 

s and other retirement accounts are relying more heavily on stocks . '' ( Money 

magazine , June ) .. . `` People are becoming investors earlier . The median age

 of shareholders declined from 53 to 43 recently . '' ( New York Stock Exchange 

survey ) .. . `` Only stocks win . The average annual rates of return after taxe

s and inflation since 1974 are : Blue-chip stocks plus 7.2 percent ; long-term g

overnment bonds minus 0.6 percent ; money market funds minus 5.9 percent . '' ( 

Ibbotson Associates ) .. . The T. Rowe Price International and New Asia mutual f

unds are now favored by nine financial newsletters , according to The Hulbert Fi

nancial Digest . WALL STREET WISDOM : `` Investments aren't safe if they don't e

arn more than inflation . There are two types of risks short-term risk of loss o

f value and the long-term risk that an investment willn't provide for your futur

e needs . Fearful investors often focus only on the first risk and invest too co

nservatively . Best strategy : Place money you will need in safe , no-loss inves

tments . Place longer-term funds in stocks for greater gains , realizing that st

ocks ' short-term volatility shouldn't concern you when investing for the long t

erm . '' ( `` Wealth : How to Get It and Keep It '' by Herb Vest , $ 24.95 . ) N

OTES & QUOTES : June in Wall Street has historically been a slightly `` up '' mo

nth , edging ahead an average 0.1 percent over 44 years . But cheer up : July ha

s proved to be the year 's fourth best month , rising 1.2 percent over the same 

time span . MONEY SAVERS ( 1 ) : `` Don't invest everything in your company 's s

tock . Doing that could make you overly dependent on your employer 's fortunes .

 If your firm does poorly , you could lose the money you 've invested as well as

 your job . '' ( Ted Benna , benefits consultant . ) MONEY SAVERS ( 2 ) : `` A s

tock that drops suddenly because of unexpected bad news may seem like a bargain 

but don't rush out to buy . Our study of 2,000 companies that had single-day dro

ps of 10 percent or more found that their prices continued to fall after the ini

tial drop . '' ( David Dreman , Dreman Value Management . ) MARKET BEAT : `` We 

have become more cautious toward the stock market . Although stocks may bounce f

rom oversold conditions , the prospect of rising interest rates and a slowing ec

onomy are not developments that sit well with investors . '' ( First National Ba

nk of Maryland ) . WALL STREET WATCH : `` Ever so slowly , market fundamentals a

re improving . '' ( Trade Guide Indicator ) ... . `` I see a coming stock market

 crash which will take the Dow all the way down to 2,000 by the first quarter of

 1995 . '' ( Joseph Granville ) .... `` The last two bear markets ( 1987 and 199

0 ) were mercifully short in duration . So short that many investors acquired th

e notion that markets always snap back quickly . Investors who suffered through 

the long bear market of 1973-74 know differently . Don't be suckered into this r

ally . '' ( Cabot Market Letter ) ... . `` Unfortunately , buying on dips this t

ime around will probably cause more harm than good . '' ( Wall Street Bargains )

 The following editorial appeared in Friday 's Washington Post : The Clinton adm

inistration has asked a federal judge in Seattle to lift an injunction of three 

years ' standing and let logging resume on a limited basis in federal forests in

 the Northwest . The environmental groups whose lawsuit led to the logging ban i

n 1991 don't like some aspects of the administration 's proposed new plan ; they

 want it tightened . Most of them nonetheless are not objecting to the lifting o

f the injunction . Instead they will come back and try to tighten the timbering 

plan around the edges later . Partly they have adopted this accommodating postur

e for political reasons . They fear they would lose if they took the harder line

 , that the judge would be unlikely to go along with them and that if he did and

 extended the injunction , Congress might well step in and change the underlying

 law . The groups are taking a certain amount of heat from some of their brethre

n for `` selling out '' like this . Our own , contrary sense is that maybe the e

nvironmentalists are finally learning how to win . Judge William Dwyer issued th

e logging ban because of what he found to be a `` deliberate and systematic refu

sal '' of the executive branch then the Bush administration `` to comply with th

e laws protecting wildlife '' in the forests . The policy was to let the industr

y log . If instead the law was to be observed and the logging was to be limited 

, someone else the judge was going to have to take the political heat for it . A

n administration devoted to law and order in so many other circumstances was in 

this case going to sit on its hands . The Clinton administration has come up wit

h a plan for much less logging . Most of the old-growth federal forest the fragm

ent of the forest that remains , that is would be preserved . So would the threa

tened wildlife within it , whose celebrated proxy has been the reclusive norther

n spotted owl . The administration says the plan is scientifically based and wel

l within the area of discretion set by the law . The critics complain that 20 to

 30 percent of the remaining old-growth forest would still be open to logging , 

that the owl and other threatened species would remain at risk or near enough to

 justify further protection and that the runoff from logging under the plan woul

d continue to damage salmon and other spawning areas . They want the judge to or

der the plan made more protective in those respects-but in the meantime would le

t the logging resume . That 's reasonable . Environmental disputes as complex an

d bitter as this will never be settled to the total satisfaction of any side . B

ut the administration seems to have come up with a plan that meets the tests of 

both pretty good policy and the law . That , too , is what the acquiescent posit

ion of the environmental plaintiffs should be taken to signify .

 WASHINGTON The General Accounting Office has concluded that inadequate inspecti

ons are being done to enforce a law that is supposed to protect thousands of chi

ldren from devastating and irreversible lead poisoning . Homes where more than 3

00,000 children younger than 7 reside are not being tested adequately for the pr

esence of lead-based paint until many of the children living in them are already

 sick , said the GAO , which is the congressional investigative agency . Childre

n in this age group are most vulnerable to lead poisoning . Health experts say h

igh levels of lead can damage a child 's nervous system , kidneys , reproductive

 system and mental development . Even low levels of lead can inhibit development

 and result in lower IQ scores and behavior problems . The agency 's investigati

on , mandated by the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 ,

 concluded that the regulations intended to protect children are not being fully

 enforced . The families covered live in privately owned homes and apartments an

d get federal subsidies to help pay their rent . Most of them live in housing bu

ilt before 1978 , when paint makers began removing lead from paint , the GAO sai

d . When officials from public-housing authorities in Boston , New Orleans , Min

neapolis and St. Paul , Minn. , inspected homes and apartments in visual searche

s , they failed to spot such existing lead hazards as intact paint on window sil

ls and sashes and floors , the GAO said . These hazards were found by local heal

th agencies in seven of the 11 residences covered by the probe , even though `` 

public-housing authorities had recently inspected these homes visually and had n

ot identified any such hazards . '' Lack of coordination among health and housin

g workers also caused children to go untreated and housing uninspected , the GAO

 said . Local health agencies , which are responsible for testing the children ,

 often did not ask where lead-poisoned children lived and did not notify housing

 authorities of the test results so that homes then could be checked for paint ,

 according to the GAO . Public-housing authorities are responsible for administe

ring Section 8 housing programs in which tenants ' rents are subsidized by the f

ederal government . The program is one of the largest sources of housing for low

- and moderate-income Americans . `` Our work shows that HUD 's regulations to p

rotect children with elevated lead levels from further poisoning are not being i

mplemented , '' the GAO report said . Only after a child was found to be poisone

d was the intact paint in the home tested for the presence of lead , the report 

said . This practice has led advocates for lead-paint removal to contend that HU

D is using children as `` guinea pigs '' to locate lead-based paint . The GAO sa

id HUD has a responsibility to see that `` public-housing authorities receive th

e information they need to protect children with elevated lead levels from furth

er poisoning . '' The GAO recommended that HUD require property owners to notify

 public-housing officials when a local health agency finds dangerous levels of l

ead-based paint in a home or apartment . Public-housing authorities also should 

be required to get addresses of children with high lead levels in their blood an

d match them with addresses of residences that are part of the subsidized housin

g program . Murky wording of the anti-lead legislation and congressional reports

 make it unclear whether Congress intended for the law to cover Section 8 housin

g , the GAO said . The agency 's report said HUD officials nevertheless intend t

o apply the act 's requirements to Section 8 housing , but also suggested that H

UD consider clarifying the law . The investigators found that some regulations i

ntended to protect children who already have elevated levels of lead in their bl

ood from further poisoning also are not being implemented . Some lead-abatement 

advocates have expressed concern that numerous private landlords will stop parti

cipating in the Section 8 program to avoid the expense of removing lead-based pa

int from their properties .

 If Jimmy Buffett really is as laid-back and likable as he makes out , why does 

`` Fruitcakes '' ( MCA-11043 ) leave me wanting nothing so much as to smack him 

hard ? Could it be the cookie-cutter Caribbean rhythms that make each song sound

 almost exactly like the next ? Or is it his showy remake of the Kinks ' `` Sunn

y Afternoon , '' which drains both the charm and the irony from the song ? No , 

the truly irritating thing about Buffett 's trademark whimsy is that it 's about

 as subtle as a surly drunk , grinding its nose into the listener 's face and de

manding that we act amused a tall order , given that songs like `` Quietly Makin

g Noise '' or `` Apocalypso '' are no funnier than their titles . So do yourself

 a favor , and give Buffett 's `` Fruitcakes '' as wide a berth as you 'd give t

he Christmas kind . -0- No sooner did He-Who-Used-To-Be-Called-Prince close the 

doors on his Paisley Park empire than he uncorked his biggest hit in years , the

 endearingly drippy `` The Most Beautiful Girl in the World . '' What this means

 in terms of the Symbolic One 's career longevity is hard to say , but judging f

rom `` The Beautiful Experience '' ( NPG 710003 ) , it 's way too early to count

 him out . Even though six of the seven tracks here are mere variations on the s

ingle , they 're so completely reconfigured that it 's less like a remix EP than

 a sort of `` Most Beautiful Girl '' suite . There 's plenty of interesting rhyt

hm play , from the stylish techno throb of `` Beautiful '' to the Sly Stone-infl

ected dub of `` Sexy Staxaphone and Guitar . '' But it 's the `` Mustang Mix , '

' with its slow , sexy lead vocal , that really makes this EP a truly beautiful 

experience . -0- Some folks might wish for eternal youth , but the truly wise wo

uld settle for merely aging as well as Lena Horne has . Even though more than a 

half century has passed since she made her first recordings ( with the great Ted

dy Wilson ) , `` We 'll Be Together Again '' ( Blue Note 28974 ) demonstrates th

at Horne 's voice remains as stylish and expressive as ever . That 's not to say

 there hasn't been some wear on her voice ( understandable for a 76-year old ) ,

 but Horne 's careful phrasing and well-shaded vibrato keeps that from becoming 

an issue . In fact , she more than holds her own against Johnny Mathis on `` Day

 Follows Day , '' and seems perfectly at home with the brassy funk of `` Love Li

ke This can't Last . '' Class tells , as they say , but it 's singers like Lena 

Horne that make it truly listenable . -0- Country , as we all know , is the last

 bastion of family values in popular music , so what could be more appropriate g

iven the current state of the American family than a pair of albums like `` Grea

t Divorce Songs for Her '' ( Warner Bros. 45594 ) and `` Great Divorce Songs for

 Him '' ( Warner Bros.45598 ) ? Tellingly , most of the songs on the `` For Her 

'' collection are variations on the theme of `` what a louse he was , '' with Hi

ghway 101 's `` Someone Else 's Trouble Now '' serving as a particularly stellar

 example . But ironically enough , it 's the `` For Him '' album that shows the 

most emotional range , from the traditional tear-in-my-beer approach of Eddie Ra

bbitt 's `` Drinkin ' My Baby ( Off My Mind ) '' to the barely concealed glee of

 Hank Williams Jr. 's `` All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight . '' Could

 this really be where the Men 's Movement has made the most progress ?

 NEW YORK When Peter Lefcourt sat down recently to discuss his new novel , he ha

d no idea that the book was about to kick up a front-page storm in Britain . The

 next day 's Sunday Express screamed : ` ` ` MY AFFAIR WITH DIANA ' BOOK ROW . '

' Romance novelist Barbara Cartland , a step-grandmother to Princess Diana , tol

d the London tabloid that Lefcourt 's `` Di and I '' should be banned , saying ,

 `` It 's appalling that Diana can be used to sell fiction like this . '' Though

 it was doubtful that Cartland and other detractors had read the fictionalized a

ccount of a love affair with the princess the book has yet to go on sale in Brit

ain the Reuters news service picked up the story and exported it to the United S

tates . In New York , where Lefcourt grew up , taught school and drove a taxi be

fore moving to Los Angeles , WCBS-TV anchorman Tony Guida reported the `` Di and

 I '' story on Memorial Day with not-so-veiled disgust . But `` Di and I , '' pu

blished in the United States by Random House , is not trash . Two years after pu

blication of `` The Dreyfus Affair , '' Lefcourt 's well-received tale of two ma

jor-league baseball players who fall in love ( with each other ) , his wildly im

probable `` Di and I '' has enough page-turning hilarity and romance to make it 

a worthy candidate for beach reading . `` Di and I '' works like this : Embitter

ed screenwriter Leonard Schecter , a Hollywood deal and divorce papers in hand ,

 arrives in London to prepare a TV miniseries about Diana . He manages to grab a

 dance with her at a formal party and they click . Clandestine meetings then lea

d to a sexually rich romance , and a bold escape from royal boredom , before Leo

nard and Di settle down and open up a McDonald 's franchise in Rancho Cucamonga 

, Calif. . In this Cinderella story in reverse , Diana is portrayed as as appeal

ingly sweet and fragile , an innocent who finds love outside of her painfully lo

veless marriage . `` My reaction is that it 's really irrelevant for Cartland to