Baseball (야구) is very popular in South Korea, especially after the unexpected success of the national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and the overseas success of Lee Seung-yeop. The Korean Baseball Organization was founded in 1982 and has 8 teams, which compete every year for the Korea Champion Series.

An afternoon at the ball game is far cheaper than in the US, Canada, or Japan, as most tickets run 10,000 won or less. Food is likewise quite cheap. Most teams have a few foreign players. If you leave during the game but plan to re-enter later, ask them to stamp your hand as you walk out.

[edit] The Korean experience

Though the sport is played under essentially the same rules as those of Major League Baseball in the US, the experience as a spectator is very different. Perhaps the most immediately obvious difference is the lack of assigned seating; though you purchase your ticket for a specific section of the stadium, once you enter you can take up any unoccupied seat, and the during the game there will be plenty of people getting up and looking for a better seat. Snacks, of course, are all Korean -- no hot dogs and pretzels here. Also, at least in Jamsil Stadium, there is no plain bottled water for sale.

The stadiums, which seat about half as many as the average MLB stadium and have no luxury boxes, are divided into two sections -- one for fans of the home team, and one for fans of the away team. Many of the fans seem to never take a break from cheering; the home side will be much louder, as they have a small stage on which a man leads the fans in cheers at every moment that the home team is batting, and a drummer bangs away incessantly. Every half-inning, while the players are warming up, a few skimpily dressed cheerleaders come out for a dance routine. Though you can sit quite close to the stage, you will (politely) be asked to move if you try to sit in the very first row. If all the noise in this area is too much for you, just get up and move to the outfield, where there will be very few fans.