KBO-NPB discuss expansion of mutual exchange for development of Asian baseball

KBO President Heo Heo-yeon met with NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara at the Tokyo Dome, where the 2023 Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) final against Japan was held on Sunday, November 19, and held a meeting for the development of Asian baseball.

The two countries’ commissioners, who met for the second time since the WBC last March, once again agreed on the need for active baseball cooperation.

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

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

In response, Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara said, “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 falling,” and added, “Let’s review various ideas together and cooperate for the revival of baseball.” He said.

In addition, the two decided to actively promote meetings between the two organizations that had slowed down due to COVID-19, and shared the idea of ​​promoting a meeting between Korea, the United States and Japan before the MLB opening game to be held in Korea in March next year.