[7][8] Korea won its first victory in the rivalry nine years later, defeating Japan 5–2 at the 1963 Asian Baseball Championship in Seoul.

Trailing 0–2 in the bottom of the eighth, Kim Jae-bak hit a three-run homer off the foul pole, making South Korea the first Asian country to win the amateur baseball competition.

[2] Some have pointed to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as the modern emergence of the rivalry, as South Korea beat Japan to win the bronze medal.

[3] Before the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, Japan's Ichiro Suzuki made several controversial comments about South Korea, claiming that the country "smells like garlic."

[10] An editorial in the JoonAng Daily described Korea's run against Japan as "the most triumphant event in the 101 years of Korean baseball history.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, South Korea suffered bitter defeats in three major professional sports: association football, basketball, and baseball.

[18] The tournament, delayed to 2021 and played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[19][20] saw South Korea and Japan meet in the semifinal round.

The safe call, confirmed by replay review, allowed a rally that ended in a Tetsuto Yamada bases-clearing double, sending Japan to the gold medal game (which they eventually won over Team USA).

[21] South Korea and Japan met again in the pool stage of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, hosted at the Tokyo Dome.