The streets of South Korea will run red Tuesday, as more than a million fans don their national soccer team's blazing signature color to cheer them on as they launch their World Cup campaign.

Police say an estimated 1.5 million fans will join in mass street parties across the country when South Korea meets Togo in their Group G opener Tuesday.

South Koreans are hoping their team can replicate their 2002 performance, when the then-co-hosts of the tournament made a surprising run to the semifinals. Before the World Cup came to their home country, the South Koreans hadn't won a single match ever at the quadrennial event.

The South Korean team is out to prove 2002 wasn't a fluke bolstered by the boisterous crowds at home _ who are hoping their support this year will still be felt from halfway around the world.

South Korea soccer fans cheer their national soccer team members at a training session for the World Cup soccer tournament in Leverkusen June 10, 2006. [Reuters]

Fans are feeling confident: Surveys show most South Koreans think their team will advance at least to the second round.

This year, cheering is also being taken to a new level. Fans are heading to classes to learn the "vertex dance" _ a strutting line dance with a leader at the head of triangle formation that has become a national craze after its introduction by actor Kim Su-ro.

Another required accessory this year for "Red Devils" -- as the South Korean soccer fan club is known-- are devil's horn headbands that light up for the games that all will be played at nighttime in Korea.

Ground zero for the celebrations is central Seoul, where more than 150,000 people are expected to view the game on massive screens amid building facades that have been covered with advertisements glorifying the country's soccer heroes.

The game against Togo on Tuesday falls at the relatively civilized hour of 10 p.m. local time (1300 GMT). South Korea's other matches against France and Switzerland on June 18 and 23 in Germany both actually kickoff the next day here at 4 a.m. (1900 GMT).

Despite the odd hours, even prisoners are being allowed to get in on the hype. The Justice Ministry has said inmates will be allowed to watch matches despite them happening well after normal bedtime.

For the days after the two early morning games, prisoners will be exempted from their usual work duties. The ministry said the move is aimed at "contributing to national unity" and "relieving inmates of their stress and feelings of isolation."

There could even be cheering for the South Korean team across the border in neighboring North Korea _ but with a delay. The communist nation's state TV has requested the South's help to receive relayed broadcasts of World Cup matches, but the games weren't being shown live in the North.