South Korea men's national basketball team

In 1947, two years after the establishment of the People's Republic of Korea, the Korea Basketball Association joined the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and sent its national teams to FIBA-sponsored events. Only one year later, the team already celebrated its first major accomplishment at the 1948 Summer Olympics, when it finished 8th, better than any other Asian nation, and ahead of teams such as Canada, Argentina, and Italy.

At the 1954 Asian Games, for the first time ever, South Korea finished in the Final Four of a major international basketball tournament in Asia. The team slowly improved its position within Asia almost every year and qualified for the Basketball World Cup several times.

In 1969 and 1970, the team enjoyed a brief period to shine, when it won the 1969 Asian Championship[3] and the 1970 Asian Games and ultimately qualified for the 1970 FIBA World Championship. As the only Asian team that had remained in the championship, South Korea finished ahead of Australia (champion of FIBA Oceania) and Egypt (champion of FIBA Africa) and showed its best performance ever at this event. Korea's Shin Dong-Pa dominated all scorers at the 1970 FIBA World Cup as he averaged 32.6 points per game, almost 13 points more than the runner up, Davis Peralta, from Panama.

At the Asian Championship, South Korea stayed among the top three teams at 21 straight events, a record that is still unmatched until today. The streak finally ended when Qatar defeated South Korea at the 3rd place game at the 2005 event. Between 1975 and 2005, South Korea was the only nation besides the Philippines that was able to seriously challenge China's dominance. It interrupted China's championship winning streak in 1997, when it defeated its dominant neighbor in the semifinals and ultimately won the crown as 1997 Champion of Asia.

At the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship, South Korea was able to go on a streak, and won the first 5 games. Because of the "four centers" Ha Seung-jin (221 cm), Kim Joo-sung (205 cm), Lee Dong-jun (202 cm), and Kim Min-soo (200 cm), South Korea had the tournament's highest 2-point field goal percentage (61%). South Korea was also a team that had a strong back court with Kim Seung-hyun (179 cm), Yang Dong-geun (182 cm), Kim Dong-woo (198 cm), and Choi Jin-soo (205 cm), who guaranteed that the team was in the tournaments top-3 in free throw percentage (70.6) and assists per game (11.5).[4] All these players helped their team to win the bronze medal once again.

In the modern era, South Korea's competition from West Asia intensified as countries such as Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, and especially Iran improved their basketball programs. South Korea is still considered one of Asia's major teams but its position among the top three teams in Asia is not guaranteed anymore. In 2014, the team qualified for the Basketball World Cup for the first time in almost 20 years. Even though the team was eliminated in the first round, the qualification itself has been a success and provided much needed global exposure. Most of the players that played at the 2014 World Cup returned for the 2014 Asian Games where they helped secure the gold medal on home soil.

Roster for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

South Korea national basketball team – 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. SG 1 Park Chan-hee 32 – (1987-04-17)April 17, 1987 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Incheon Electroland Elephants SF 2 Choi Jun-yong 25 – (1994-04-04)April 4, 1994 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Seoul SK Knights SG 3 Lee Jung-hyun 32 – (1987-03-03)March 3, 1987 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Jeonju KCC Egis PG 5 Kim Sun-hyung 31 – (1988-07-01)July 1, 1988 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Seoul SK Knights PG 6 Heo Hoon 24 – (1995-08-16)August 16, 1995 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) Busan KT Sonicboom SF 11 Yang Hee-jong 35 – (1984-05-11)May 11, 1984 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Anyang KGC PF 12 Jeong Hyo-geun 25 – (1993-12-14)December 14, 1993 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Incheon Electroland Elephants PF 13 Kang Sang-jae 24 – (1994-12-31)December 31, 1994 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Incheon Electroland Elephants C 15 Kim Jong-kyu 28 – (1991-07-03)July 3, 1991 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Changwon LG Sakers C 20 Ricardo Ratliffe 30 – (1989-02-20)February 20, 1989 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Ulsan Mobis Phoebus PF 33 Lee Seoung-hyun 27 – (1992-04-16)April 16, 1992 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) Goyang Orions SG 43 Lee Dae-sung 29 – (1990-05-30)May 30, 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Ulsan Mobis Phoebus	Head coach Hur Jae Assistant coach(es) Cho Sang-hyun Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 31 August 2019

{{basketball depth chart | line_color = 003478 | alt_color = FFFFFF | starter_c = Ricardo Ratliffe | bench 1_c = Kim Jong-kyu | bench 2_c = | starter_pf = Lee Seung-hyun | bench 1_pf = Kang Sang-jae | bench 2_pf = | starter_sf = [[Choi Jun-yong (basketball)|Choi Jun-yong] | bench 1_sf = Jeong Hyo-geun | bench 2_sf = Yang Hee-jong | starter_sg = Lee Jung-hyun | bench 1_sg = Lee Dae-sung | bench 2_sg = | starter_pg = Kim Sun-hyung | bench 1_pg = Park Chan-hee | bench 2_pg = Heo Hoon }}

1970 World Championship: finished 11th among 13 teams

Shin Dong-pa, Lee In-pyo, Kim In-kun, Kim Young-il, Park Han, Choi Jong-kyu, Yoo Hee-hyung, Lee Byung-koo, Yoo Jung-kun, Lee Ja-young, Shin Hyun-soo, Kwak Hyun-chae (Coach: Kim Young-ki)

1978 World Championship: finished 13th among 14 teams

Kim In-Jin, Kim Pyung-Man, Jung Young-Soo, Jang Bong-Hak, Park Sang-Ung, Park Soo-Kyo, Kim Sang-Chun, Kim Hyung-Nyun, Kim Dong-Kwang, Koo Jong-Hoo, Lee Mun-Kyu, Choi Bu-Young (Coach: Kim Moo-Hyung)

1986 World Championship: finished 22nd among 24 teams

Hur Jae, Park In-kyu, Lee Min-hyun, Cho Yoon-ho, Han Ki-bum, Lee Mun-kyu, Kim Hyun-jun, Kim You-taek, Kim Sung-wook, Lee Won-woo, Lee Chung-hee, Goh Myong-hwa (Coach: Kim In-kun)

2016: Nike [5]

2016: Hana Financial Group [5]

• Korea v Iraq - Semi-Final Highlights - FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 YouTube.com video