Harold Mayne-Nicholls, chief of the five-man delegation, was speaking at the end of a three-day visit to the Asian nation, the second such inspection among the nine bidders for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The team arrived from Japan on Thursday and land in Australia on Monday.

As well as Seoul, the team toured Daegu, Ulsan, Goyang and Incheon and also found time for dinner with president Lee Myung-bak on Friday evening.

"Despite the short amount of time that we stayed, we could check all we needed - training sites, hotels, convention centres, stadiums, airports, new technology," said Chilean federation president Mayne-Nicholls.

"We had a chance to learn a lot about the history and future of Korea and the challenges for the future, the people who have helped and the president Lee Myung-bak, who gave all his support for the 2022 World Cup and treated us in a very friendly way.

"But mostly we learned that your well-structured bidding campaign is based on the message we all need - peace for everyone."

Mayne-Nicholls also believes co-hosting the 2002 World Cup with Japan means South Korea are in an excellent position to stage the 2022 edition outright.

"After eight years, I was able to see the legacy of the World Cup is not only in the stadium but seems to be in everybody in this country," he added.

"The iconic fan-fest site in Seoul plaza is not only a tradition in Korea but also all over the world. Everywhere we went, the people are really passionate about football.

"Coming back to the stadiums, the maintenance of them gave us a good impression and the passion for the game seems to be growing every day."

Bid chairman Han Sung-joo was pleased with the inspection.

"They came here to verify our ability, will and preparedness to host the 2022 World Cup. I hope and trust that they did just that," he said.

"They asked the right questions, went to the right places and met the right people. I trust that they got the right answers to their questions, which will help them prepare the most accurate report of their inspection."

As well as Japan and Australia, Korea face competition from Qatar, England, the United States, Russia and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and Holland to stage the 2022 World Cup with FIFA making the decision for both that and the 2018 tournament on December 2.