Hong Eunchae, the youngest member of K-pop girl group Le Sserafim, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a home game for Japan's Chiba Lotte Marines early next month, her management agency Source Music said on Wednesday. An avid baseball fan, Hong will take the mound for the ceremonial first pitch before the Marines' game against the Saitama Seibu Lions on Aug. 5 at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba. She will also meet fans at events held as part

Nine years ago, a South Korean Go master sat across a board from a machine that was not supposed to be beatable. On March 13, 2016, in the fourth game of a five-game match against Google DeepMind's AlphaGo in Seoul, Lee Sedol became the only human ever to defeat that particular artificial intelligence, snapping three straight losses along the way. He would go on to lose the fifth game and the series overall, four games to one. But that one win, built aro

SEOUL, July 13 (AJP) -South Korea enjoyed one of its most successful weekends in international golf as Ryu Haeran captured her second consecutive major championship and Tom Kim ended a difficult two-year spell by claiming the Genesis Scottish Open, giving the country victories on both the LPGA and men's PGA Tour stages. Ryu completed a stunning ascent to the summit of women's golf by winning the Amundi Evian Championship in France on Sunday, just two weeks after claiming t

Former South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo issued a new public apology Thursday over the national team's early exit from the 2026 World Cup, saying he would appear before a parliamentary hearing if called and take full responsibility for the result. The statement was released through the Hong Myung-bo Scholarship Foundation, a charity the 57-year-old 2002 World Cup hero himself chairs. It was made public on the day the National Assembly's Culture,

South Korean football lost its most powerful figure Monday, eight days after losing its World Cup. Chung Mong-gyu resigned as president of the Korea Football Association, ending 13 years and five months in charge and completing the collapse that had already consumed his hand-picked national team coach, Hong Myung-bo, whose group-stage failure turned him into a national pariah and has now claimed the man who put him there. The scale of the failure explain

The fallout from South Korea's group-stage exit at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is spreading beyond football, as the Korea Football Association faces renewed legal and political pressure over its leadership and decision-making. Hong Myung-bo, who resigned as head coach after South Korea failed to reach the round of 32, KFA President Chung Mong-gyu and former KFA technical director Lee Lim-saeng have been named in a complaint filed by the People's Livelihood

England survived a major scare to reach the last 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while co-host United States advanced despite a red-card setback that left a bitter aftertaste to an otherwise hard-fought win. Belgium also moved on, but only after a dramatic late comeback against Senegal that raised as many questions as it answered. England came from behind to beat DR Congo 2-1 at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, in a match that kicked off at

France and Mexico powered into the last 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with commanding wins, while Erling Haaland struck late to send Norway past Ivory Coast and into a showdown with Brazil. Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1 at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, in a match that kicked off at noon local time. Norway restored several first-choice players, including Haaland, who had missed the final group-stage match against France, but Ivory Coast con

Brazil ended Japan's upset bid with a dominant second-half comeback, Germany suffered another World Cup collapse and Morocco extended its recent run of strong international results as the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 32 continued on Monday. Brazil came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 at Houston Stadium in Houston, Texas, in a match that kicked off at noon local time. Japan took the lead in the 29th minute through Kaishu Sano, whose long-range strike rew