The South Korea women's national handball team is the national team of South Korea. Since 1984, the Korean team has not only participated constantly in Olympic Games but also ranked among the top four nations every time until 2012. Korea grabbed the gold medal in 1988 and 1992, won the silver medal in 1984, 1996, 2004 and took bronze medal in 2008. They have earned two World Championship medals so far: In 1995, they also won the World Championship title in Austria/Hungary 1995 World Women's Handball Championship, they came off third to secure the bronze medal at the Croatia in 2003 World Women's Handball Championship. It is a twelve-time Asian Champion, the tournament has been won by any other nation only twice.
Both the men's and women's and children's teams failed to qualify in the regional qualifiers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in 2007 August due to the biased refereeing, but the International Handball Federation ordered replays of both qualifying tournaments after acknowledging biased officiating by Middle Eastern referees. South Korea beat Japan in both the men's and women's matches and qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 January. However, the Executive Committee of the Kuwait-based federation, which had rejected the International Handball Federation's ruling to hold the replays, agreed to fine Japan and South Korea $1,000 and issued a warning to both countries. In addition, the Asian Handball Federation appealed the IHF's decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled the Asian women's qualification invalid and forced the Korean ladies to play in the final Olympic qualifying tournament. The replay was decided to be invalid by the Court. The Korean women's team earned their ticket to the Beijing Olympics at the Olympic qualifying game held at Nîmes, France. In the semi-final match of 2008 Beijing Olympic games with Norway, Norway's deciding goal was requested to be annulled by the Korean delegation, because they claimed the ball had not crossed the goal line before the end whistle of the game. Korea's appeal was turned down by the IHF's Disciplinary Commission, confirming the end result to be 29–28 in favor of Norway.
The 2008 film Forever the Moment is a fictionalized account of the teams' journey to the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Results Olympic Games YearPositionTournamentHost 1984 2 Los Angeles Olympics United States 1988 1 Seoul Olympics South Korea 1992 1 Barcelona Olympics Spain 1996 2 Atlanta Olympics United States 2000 4 Sydney Olympics Australia 2004 2 Athens Olympics Greece 2008 3 Beijing Olympics China 2012 4 London Olympics Great Britain 2016 10 Rio Olympics Brazil 2020 8 Tokyo Olympics Japan 2024 10 Paris Olympics France
World Championship 1978 – 10–12th place 1982 – 6th place 1986 – 11th place 1990 – 11th place 1993 – 11th place 1995 – Champions 1997 – 5th place 1999 – 9th place 2001 – 15th place 2003 – 3rd place 2005 – 8th place 2007 – 6th place 2009 – 6th place 2011 – 11th place 2013 – 12th place 2015 – 14th place 2017 – 13th place 2019 – 11th place 2021 – 14th place 2023 – 22nd place 2025 – 23rd place
Asian Games 1990 – Champions 1994 – Champions 1998 – Champions 2002 – Champions 2006 – Champions 2010 – 3rd place 2014 – Champions 2018 – Champions 2022 – Runners-up
Asian Championship 1987 – Champions 1989 – Champions 1991 – Champions 1993 – Champions 1995 – Champions 1997 – Champions 1999 – Champions 2000 – Champions 2002 – Runners-up 2004 – 3rd place 2006 – Champions 2008 – Champions 2010 – Runners-up 2012 – Champions 2015 – Champions 2017 – Champions 2018 – Champions 2021 – Champions 2022 – Champions 2024 – Runners-up
Other tournaments Carpathian Trophy 1994 – 2nd place Carpathian Trophy 2006 – 2nd place Møbelringen Cup 2017 – 4th place
Team Current squad Roster for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship.
Head coach: Lee Kye-chung
Notable players Lim O-kyeong – World Handball Player of the Year (1996) Kim Hyun-mee – World Handball Player of the Year (1989)
Notable coaches Kang Jae-won Chung Hyung-kyun
See also South Korea men's national handball team
References
External links
IHF profile