Korea Beats Taiwan in Classic Opener

Korea defeated Taiwan, 2-0 in the opening match of World Baseball Classic (WBC) yesterday at the Tokyo Dome.

Korean pitchers Seo Jae-ung (Los Angeles Dodgers), Kim Byung-hyun (Colorado Rockies), and Park Chan-ho (San Diego Padres) combined to shut out Taiwan while batters Hong Sung-heun (Doosan) and Lee Jong-beom each collected two base hits that decided the outcome of the game.

By defeating Taiwan, Korea has virtually earned the right to advance to the main round of the tournament that will be held in Anaheim, California, on March 13.

The WBC is the World Cup of baseball and includes teams from Korea, Japan, the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Cuba Unlike the Olympics or world championships, U.S. major leaguers are allowed to represent their countries in WBC play, making it the world’s biggest international baseball event.

Sixteen countries, divided into four groups, are competing against each other in a tournament that will decide the two victors that will advance to the main round.

Korea will face China next on March 4 at 11:00 a.m., and Japan on March 5 at 6:00 p.m.

There is an intense war of words going on between Korea and Japan, sparked by Japanese baseball star Suzuki Ichiro (Seattle Mariners), who said, “I will teach Korea and other countries that they won’t be able to beat Japan in the next 30 years,” to which Korea’s Park Chan-ho replied, “Ichiro and others can’t help talking about Korea because they feel threatened.”

uni@donga.com