Korea postgame interview March 5

Q: You win the game but do not advance. I'm sure that is disappointing to you. Can you tell us about your feelings in the game tonight?

JOONG IL RYU: First of all, we were in the semifinal in the first WBC and the championship game in the second WBC. So we have become a strong country in terms of baseball.

However, we failed to advance to round two, so I'd like to apologize to the Korean people for disappointing you.

As a matter of fact, we had much pressure on our shoulders that we had to win by five or over the scoring margin. But our batting order exploded at the end of the game, so it was kind of disappointing.

Q: Did you feel some mistakes early in the game? Was that pressure because you had to get a lot of runs?

JOONG IL RYU: There were two running mistakes in the second inning. Then Keun-woo Jeong is very fast, as a matter of fact. Of course, he made a mistake this time, but the Chinese Taipei team was very good. So compared to the past, I think that the Chinese Taipei team showed it's more organized this time.

Q: So I'd like to say Jeong Choi did not participate in today's game, so did it affect our result?

JOONG IL RYU: He got injured in his left thigh, so I believe if he participated in our game then the result would be better, but I could not force him to join the game even though he got injured.

Either way we learned a good lesson from this tournament, and we'll do better next time.

Q: Min-ho Kang was our catcher, and some pointed out that maybe we needed Kab-yong Jin who has more catching experience than Kang. Why did you choose him to be involved in three games?

JOONG IL RYU: Kang has experience working as a battery in Lotte with Seung-jun Song and Won-jun Chang. That is why I used Kang for the catcher position this time.

Q: So before the tournament, some people analyzed the Korean National Team's capability is not as good as before. So would you like to comment on this as we finish all the tournaments in round one?

JOONG IL RYU: I don't have any remark to say as we are leaving round one. Some said the players' abilities are not as good as before, but they were the best players I have ever had. I was not good enough as their manager. If we are given another chance like this, we will practice better and prepare better so that we can show the best score.