The South Korean baseball club Lotte Giants signed All-Star outfielder Min Byung-hun via free agency Tuesday.The Korea Baseball Organization team added one of the biggest prizes in the open market with a four-year deal worth 8 billion won ($7.3 million).The 30-year-old played his first 11 seasons with the Doosan Bears. He is a career .299 hitter in 1,096 games and has batted at least .300 in each of the past five seasons.In 2017, Min batted .304/.389/.445 with 14 home runs, 71 RBIs and 21 double

When the South Korean women's hockey team makes its Olympic debut next February on home ice, it will go up against three top-10 countries in the preliminary stage.The 22nd-ranked South Korea has made strides in recent years, but it will still have an uphill battle against Sweden (No. 5), Switzerland (No. 6) and Japan (No. 7) in Group B.But South Korean captain Park Jong-ah isn't one to look at the matchups and shudder with fear. In fact, the team's top forward has set a lofty goal at the 2018 Py

More than half of the tickets for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics have been sold, the local Olympics organizing committee said Sunday. "Around 555,000 tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as sports competitions, had been sold as of last Friday," the organizing committee said. The sales account for 52 percent of the committee's sales target of 1.07 million, according to the committee. The Winter Games are scheduled to run from Feb. 9-25.  (Yonhap)The sales rate reached 31

Yun Sungbin of South Korea had the fastest starts and finishes in both heats Saturday to easily win a men's World Cup skeleton race. He has outright possession of the series points lead after two wins from three races. Yun Sungbin, of South Korea, competes in a world cup men’s skeleton race in Whistler, British Columbia, Saturday Dec. 3, 2016. (AP)Russia's Nikita Tregubov was second and Latvia's Tomass Dukurs was third.Yun finished three-quarters of a second ahead of Tregubov, a massive margin i

Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Duran will visit South Korea later this month to meet with local boxing executives, officials here said Friday. According to Korea Boxing Commission officials, Duran will visit the country with Panamanian boxer-turned-congressman Hector Carrasquilla. The two will attend an event in Seoul next Monday that commemorates South Korean boxing icon Hong Soo-hwan's memorable victory against Carrasquilla 40 years ago. Hong and Carrasquilla delivered a memorable bout in Pa

South Korea on Friday replaced an injured goalkeeper for an upcoming regional football tournament.The Korea Football Association said Kim Seung-gyu, who plays with Japanese club Vissel Kobe, has been dropped from the 24-man squad for the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship in Tokyo due to an injury to his left ankle. The 27-year-old sustained the injury during national team training ahead of the friendly football match against Serbia last week. The KFA said Seongnam FC goalk

South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan has scored for the first time in three months as he helped FC Red Bull Salzburg to qualify for the knockout stage of a second-tier European club competition. Hwang scored Salzburg's third goal in their 3-0 win over Vitoria SC in the UEFA Europa League Group I match at Red Bull Arena in Salzburg, Austria, on Thursday (local time). This was Hwang's eighth goal of the 2017-18 season in all competitions and his first since Aug. 20, when he scored against SKN St. P

Hanwha Eagles infielder Lee Chang-yeol was caught by Japanese police Wednesday for his sexual abuse allegation in Miyazaki, where his team had been staying for an off-season training.According to Sankei Shimbun and other local media outlets, the Korean professional baseball player has been suspected of forcibly touching a waitress at a restaurant on Nov. 2. The female worker had reportedly notified the police of the incident on the next day. News reports say that the police, on the basis of CCTV

Son Heung-min, a South Korean national who is a striker for England Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, allegedly suffered racist taunts from a man -- who identified himself as a West Ham fan. In a short video clip posted on social media, Son, who is in his car, is signing an autograph for a fan on the road. Another person in a car next to them, is shooting the footage. Son sees the man and smiles at him. (Screen grab from YouTube)But the man shouts at the EPL player, stuttering, “Can you get

Chong Tae-hyon, who induced the gold medal-winning double play ball against Cuba at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, announced his retirement on Wednesday after 17 professional seasons.The 39-year-old submarine pitcher told Yonhap News Agency his ailing would no longer allow him to pitch in the Korea Baseball Organization. His last KBO game came with the Lotte Giants in 2016, and he only made 10 appearances for the Giants' affiliate in the Futures League, the KBO's minor league."Since I couldn't be of

Reigning South Korean pro football champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors said Wednesday they have signed their veteran striker Lee Dong-gook to a one-year contract extension. Jeonbuk, the 2017 K League Classic champions, said Lee will play with them until the end of the 2018 season after signing a one-year contract extension. The club, however, didn't disclose financial details of the deal. Lee's current contract was due to expire next month. Lee will have his 10th season with Jeonbuk. The 38-year-ol

South Korea on Tuesday selected the venues that will host matches for the top Asian football tournament in the event that the country wins its bid to stage the event in 2023.The Korea Football Association said eight cities -- Suwon, Goyang, Hwaseong, Cheonan, Jeonju, Gwangju, Busan and Jeju -- will host matches if South Korea is successful in its bid to stage the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup in 2023. The national football governing body said the AFC will conduct inspections on the sele

INCHEON -- Co-LPGA Player of the Year Ryu So-yeon got a hero's welcome Tuesday after a strong season in which she reached No. 1 in the world rankings for the first time.Ryu won two LPGA tournaments, including her second career major at the ANA Inspiration in April and reached No. 1 in late June. She stayed there until early November, when fellow South Korean Park Sung-hyun replaced her at the top.Ryu and Park shared the LPGA's Player of the Year award after they finished tied atop the standings

Despite being recently listed by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism, North Korea is still welcome to join the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday.On Monday, the US added North Korea again to its list of states sponsoring terrorism, as the Trump administration increases its campaign of maximum pressure over North Korea's illegal development of nuclear weapons. The North had been removed from the list nine years ago."The government

All-Star catcher Kang Min-ho signed a multi-year free agent contract with a new club Tuesday, making a big splash in what has been a relatively quiet market this offseason.The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced a four-year, 8 billion-won ($7.3 million) deal with the 32-year-old backstop. The Lions said the deal includes a signing bonus of 4 billion won.Kang, 32, has spent his entire 14-year career with the Lotte Giants. When he first became a free agent in November 2013,