South Korea men's national ice hockey team

Lore & Background

South Korea first participated in the World Championship in 1979, playing in Pool C, the third level of the tournament. They did not return until 1982, again in Pool C, and became a regular participant in 1986. They remained at the Division I level, the second tier of the World Championship, from 2010 until 2017, when they earned a promotion to the 2018 World Championship.

Upon being named the host country for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the South Korean team began efforts to steadily improve themselves in order to be competitive with the other teams expected at the tournament, led by the efforts of Korea Ice Hockey Association president Chung Mong-won. Several North American players playing for teams in South Korea were offered South Korean citizenship, thus allowing them to play at the Olympics. This was done to help the team perform better in the lead-up to the Olympics, which proved successful: when awarded the Olympics in 2011, the South Korean team was ranked 31st in the IIHF World Ranking, while on the eve of the Olympics had moved up to 18th. However, South Korea gradually phased out the use of naturalized players in the post-COVID-19 era.

The South Korean team is one of the powerhouses of Asian ice hockey. It is a regular participant in the Asian Winter Games, with its best result being a silver medal in 2017. In November 2024, South Korea took part in the inaugural IIHF Asia Championship and finished in third place.

Reader's Guide

The South Korean men's national ice hockey team's significance lies in its rise from a lower-tier participant to a competitive force in international hockey, driven by the opportunity to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The team's most successful campaign was a second-place finish in the 2017 Division I Group A tournament, which earned promotion to the top division for 2018, and they competed in their first Winter Olympics that same year as the host nation. The team's improvement was fueled by naturalizing several North American players from South Korean club teams, a strategy that helped lift their IIHF World Ranking from 31st in 2011 to 18th on the eve of the Olympics. However, this practice was gradually phased out in the post-COVID-19 era. South Korea is recognized as a powerhouse of Asian ice hockey, regularly competing in the Asian Winter Games (silver medal in 2017) and the IIHF Asia Championship (third place in 2025, second place in 2026). The team's legacy includes demonstrating how a host nation can strategically build a competitive program, while also highlighting the complexities of using naturalized players for international success.

Did You Know?

• The team's IIHF World Ranking improved from 31st in 2011 to 18th on the eve of the 2018 Olympics.
• South Korea earned a silver medal at the 2017 Asian Winter Games.
• The team finished in third place at the inaugural IIHF Asia Championship in November 2024.