<Anchor>
Korea lost heavily to Japan
in the second game of the group stage of the World Baseball Classic yesterday (10th), demonstrating the reality of Korean baseball. There is even an analysis that the world has stagnated alone while developing, destroying the image of a baseball powerhouse.

Sung-Hoon Lee is a reporter from Tokyo.

<Reporter> Historically,

international performance has served as a "quality guarantee" for Korean baseball.

The WBC's 2 and 2006 Olympic Games, the 2009 Olympics, and the 2008 Premier2015 gave fans the perception of the high quality of Korean baseball and supported the popularity of professional baseball.

However, following the "no-medal shock" at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, this WBC losing streak has clearly revealed that Korea is a "frog in the well."

The relative decline in Korean baseball is not new.

In the more than a decade since the debuts of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kwang-Hyun Kim and Hyun-Jong Yang, who led the golden era of international competition, Korean baseball has not developed a single "world-class pitcher."

In addition to the team's young aces such as Ohtani and Sasaki, world-class pitchers have emerged one after another, creating a stark contrast to Japan, which can't pick them all.

Only last year, Ahn Woo-jin developed into a pitcher coveted by the major leagues, but he couldn't wear the Tai Chi mark because of his school power, and the rest of the young pitchers had a long way to go.

[Lee Kang-kang/WBC National Team Manager: Because they are young players, I think they will have good experience and the next time they have a good game, they will come up a little bit more.]

In addition, the tournament was held in Japan, and the training camp was set up in the United States, which caused the athletes to travel and adjust to jet lag, and the poor preparation process contributed to the so-called "Tokyo Dome disaster."

The tournament, which aims to restore the honor of Korean baseball, is a heartbreaking time that exposes the growing level gap between baseball powerhouses.

After winning both of their remaining games, the national team beat China today to help Australia, who have won two in a row, lose to Japan and the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, yesterday, the KBO said it had lodged an official complaint with the tournament organizing committee about the incident in which Uk Il appeared in the stands during the Korea-Japan match.

(Video Interview: Jang Un-seok, Yoon Hyung, Video Editing: Woo Ki-jung)