South Korea

Players who were born here

South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, sometimes called Korea) is a country located in east Asia on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. The other half is occupied by North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the two countries fought each other in the Korean War. South Korea's capital is Seoul, which was the site of the 1988 Olympics.

The country has a long baseball history, with the earliest documented games having taken place in the 1890s. The game's popularity increased during the time of Japanese occupation, which lasted from 1910 to 1945 - one of the few benefits of what was a dark period in the country's history. South Korea has been a regular participant in major international competitions, including the Olympics (winning Gold in 2008) and all editions of the World Baseball Classic (finishing as high as second). The Korea Baseball Organization, founded in 1982, is the country's professional baseball league, and is the third strongest in the world after MLB and Nippon Pro Baseball.

The first Korean player to reach the major leagues was Chan Ho Park in 1994; a number of others have since followed in his footsteps.

MLB played a regular season opening series in Korea to open the 2024 season, on the model of those that have previously been played in Japan and Australia. It took place on March 20 and 21 and featured the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres facing off at the Gocheok SkyDome in the capital and splitting the two games.

Olympic Medals

• 2000 Bronze
• 2008 Gold

Further Reading

• Michael Clair: "Six Korean MLB trailblazers", mlb.com, March 6, 2024. [1]
• Thomas Harrigan: "History of baseball in South Korea", mlb.com, March 15, 2024. [2]
• Cydney Henderson (USA Today): "Dodgers, Padres set to open 2024 MLB season with first regular-season series in South Korea", Yahoo! Sports, July 12, 2023. [3]
• Joe Lemire: "For MLB clubs, Korean player market turning into a best buy", USA Today Sports, November 18, 2015. [4]