Park Jae-hong (51) apologized instead as a senior baseball player.

The South Korean baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il (61), won 5-2 against Australia in the group B of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 at Tenmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan from 1 p.m. on the 18th (Korea time). 메이저사이트

Ryu Joong-il had three wins and two losses on the day, achieving a successful conclusion. However, the victory did not have much meaning as his team's advance to the Super Round (semi-finals) on Wednesday was already frustrated due to losses against Taiwan and Japan. 

Following the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), South Korea was once again disqualified from the group stage at the baseball international tournament. 

Park Jae-hong is a legendary player who played an active role in the national team as one of the 40th anniversary All-Stars of the KBO League. After Korea's elimination from the Premier 12 group league (opening round), Park looked back on the upcoming competition through a video titled "Korea, what was the problem?" on YouTube. Park, who also analyzed the reasons for elimination, made suggestions when asked, "What are the challenges for Korean baseball going forward?" 

"If you look at recent baseball games, you don't have to talk about Cuba's collapse, Taiwan's propaganda, and most of all, Japan. Japan has branded Samurai Japan as a member of the Japanese national team, and it was very systematic. Japan has great infrastructure in the league, but it was caught by us a lot from the late 2000s to the early 2010s. However, we are now creating a gap with Korea," Park said. 

"It seems that it is time for us to wrap our heads up and think about it, rather than blaming the players for their poor performance. Rather than continuing to blame the players, we should think about how we can catch Japan and what the curriculum is. The popularity and scalability of the league is good, but if you go out and are not competitive (in international competitions), you will get a bad sound," he explained. 

"We also need to pay attention to the fall of Cuba (in addition to that), and analyze how Taiwan is doing well recently. We also need to think about how Japan manages Samurai Japan and what their direction is. We need to think about these first. I think the ball is not for the players but for the seniors who belong to the infrastructure related to baseball. I apologize." 

Park Jae-hong added, "I think we should watch while cheering and paying attention to Korean baseball so that it can have strong power again."