KBO seeks to expand mutual exchange with NPB… “Discussions on Korea-Japan exchanges”

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and the Japan Baseball Organization (NPB) agreed to expand mutual exchanges.

The KBO announced on the 20th that KBO President Heo Heo-yeon held a meeting with NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, where the 2023 Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) final was held on the 19th.

The commissioners of the two countries, who met for the second time since the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last March, once again agreed on the need for active baseball cooperation.

Although the Korea-Japan exchange match, which President Heo had promoted immediately after taking office, could not be carried out according to the Japanese national team’s pre-scheduled schedule, it was decided to discuss it so that it can be accomplished in the future.

President Heo expressed his opinion, saying, “I believe that the Korea-Japan game is an important factor in the baseball boom. Let’s work to develop baseball in Asia through various international competitions and games linked to both countries.”

Commissioner Sakakibara responded by saying, “Although the number of Japanese professional baseball spectators has increased, the number of amateur baseball players has decreased, so there is a sense of crisis about baseball’s popularity declining. Let’s review various ideas together and cooperate for the revival of baseball.”

The two commissioners decided to actively promote meetings between the two organizations, which had slowed down in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). They shared the idea of ​​promoting a meeting between Korea, the United States, and Japan before the opening of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season in Korea in March next year.

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