CHIBA, Japan -- The South Korea women's national football team lost 3-2 to Japan at a regional tournament here Friday.South Korea conceded the winner to Mana Iwabuchi late in the second half in their opening match of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship at Soga Sports Park in Chiba, Japan.(Yonhap)The four-nation tournament also features North Korea and China.Earlier in the day, North Korea beat China 2-0, thanks to Kim Yun-mi's double.South Korea, led by head coach

CHIBA, Japan -- North Korea women's national football head coach Kim Kwang-min said Friday his players are not competing for money at a regional tournament that kicked off earlier in the day in Japan.Both North Korea men's and women's team are participating in the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship, where they will compete against South Korea, Japan and China. Kim's team defeated China 2-0 to open the women's tournament Friday. (Yonhap)The EAFF awards US$250,000 to t

SUWON, South Korea -- South Korean football icon Park Ji-sung said Friday that he will devote himself to his new job as the chief of the country's youth football program with his European experience. Park was named the Korea Football Association's youth strategy department chief last month. It was the first time the 36-year-old took an official position within the KFA. "The KFA had been asking me to work together, but I wasn't able to accept its offer back then because of my situation," Park tol

The South Korean men's national hockey team will head to Russia next week for a key pre-Olympic tournament.The Korea Ice Hockey Association said the national team will wrap up its training camp at Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 90 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday, and will depart for Moscow next Monday for the Channel One Cup.The annual event will be the last international competition for South Korea, coached by former National Hockey League rearguard Jim Paek, before the P

Members of the Trump administration surprised the US Olympic Committee by suggesting the nation's participation at the upcoming Pyeongchang Games in South Korea was "an open question," and the USOC responded by saying it has no plans on pulling out. The confusion began when UN ambassador Nikki Haley, in response to a question in a Fox News interview, said "There's an open question" about whether the US team would travel to South Korea, where tensions have grown high after a series of missile tes

TOKYO -- South Korean midfielder Ju Se-jong said Thursday he wants to lift the trophy of the top East Asian football competition before he starts his military service.Ju is a member of the South Korea national football team that will compete against Japan, China and North Korea at the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship. The men's competition will be staged at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo from Saturday to Dec. 16.Ju, who has one goal in six international appearances, was on th

Reigning South Korean baseball league MVP Yang Hyeon-jong was chosen by retired players as the top performer of the season Thursday.Yang, voted the regular season MVP in the Korea Baseball Organization last month, received the Player of the Year accolade by the Korea Professional Baseball Alumni Association. The KPBAA, an organization founded to help retired baseball players, created the awards in 2014. His latest honor follows the award given by active players in the KBO. On Tuesday, he was vot

TOKYO -- South Korea football coach Shin Tae-yong on Wednesday said his side is ready to achieve a successful title defense at the upcoming regional tournament. South Korea will compete against Japan, China and North Korea at the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship. The men's competition will be staged at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo from Saturday to Dec. 16.The E-1 Football Championship, formerly called the East Asian Cup, started in 2003, and this will be its seventh edition

South Korea on Thursday encouraged Russian athletes to compete in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as neutral individuals, amid a ban on Russia competing over its state-sponsored doping.The International Olympic Committee's Executive Board announced in Lausanne, Switzerland, this week that it would suspend the Russian Olympic Committee with "immediate effect." The board acted on recommendations by a commission led by former Swiss President Samuel Schmid, who confirmed "the systemic manipulat

South Korea ranks eighth in terms of gross domestic product among the 32 countries which qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, government data showed Thursday.South Korea, whose FIFA ranking is 59th, had a GDP of $1.41 trillion last year, according to the data by Statistics Korea.Japan topped the GDP list among the 32 participants in the 2018 FIFA World Cup with $4.93 trillion.The United States and China, the world's biggest economies, failed to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. T

WASHINGTON -- The two mascots for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will walk across central Washington this week to promote the upcoming games, the organizer said Wednesday.Soohorang, a white tiger, and Bandabi, an Asiatic black bear, plan to meet with locals near the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the National Mall starting at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Korean Cultural Center here. This photo, provided by the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, shows the mascots of the

South Korean pro football champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have been drawn with Hong Kong league winners at the 2018 Asian Football Confederation Champions League.  In a drawing held at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday, Jeonbuk, the 2017 K League Classic winners, were paired with Kitchee SC, which will make their AFC Champions League group stage debut. They will be joined by two teams that come through the playoffs in Group E. Jeonbuk are looking for their third ACL title. Choi Kang-hee's sid

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean attacker Son Heung-min has scored his six goal of the season at the top European club football tournament.Son scored his team's second goal in Spurs' 3-0 win over Apoel FC in their last group stage match at the UEFA Champions League at Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday (local time). This was Son's third Champions League goal and his sixth total in the 2017-18 season. He has three goals in the English Premier League.  In this photo taken by the Associated Pre

A decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban Russia from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics over state-sponsored doping could rob South Korea's first Winter Games of some much-needed star power.Following its meeting at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC's Executive Board announced it would suspend the Russian Olympic Committee, effective immediately. The IOC added that individual Russian athletes would still be allowed to compete as neutrals, provided that they

South Korea plan to train in the Middle East next month to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, an official at the national football governing body said Wednesday.The official said the Korea Football Association is currently searching for overseas venues where the men's national team can train for up to two weeks in January."Since South Korea will have cold weather, the association is considering holding its training (somewhere) in the Middle East, such as the United Arab Emirates," the official