Baseball - Team Republic of Korea

General
The Republic of Korea arrive in Hangzhou as the reigning Asian Games champions, having defeated Japan 3-0 in the final in Indonesia in 2018. The Korean team's victory in Indonesia was their third in a row at the Asian Games after they defeated Chinese Taipei in the finals of the 2010 and 2014 editions. The Koreans are the most successful Asian Games baseball team, boasting five out of seven gold medals since the sport was introduced to the programme in 1994.

In 2015 the Korean team held the Asian Games, Asian championship and WBSC Premier 12 titles concurrently, having beaten the United States of America 8-0 in the final of the inaugural WBSC Premier 12 tournament. It was the team's first world-level title since they won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games, and before that a World Cup title in 1982.

In more recent years, however, the Republic of Korea have been frustrated at major tournaments. They suffered a 5-3 loss to Japan in the final of the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, and a 5-2 semifinal defeat to Japan at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo that was followed by a 10-6 bronze medal match loss to the Dominican Republic. The Korean team also finished just outside the medals in fourth place at the 2019 Asian Championship, which was the first time in 27 appearances at the tournament since 1954 that they failed to finish on the podium.

The team placed in the top three at the World Baseball Classic in 2006 [third] and 2009 [second], but in three appearances since then they have struggled to make an impact at the tournament. At the 2023 World Baseball Classic they did not progress to the knockout stages after recording wins against the Czech Republic and the People's Republic of China and defeats to Australia and Japan in Pool B.