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The Korean team were somewhat lacking in their trademark ice-cold concentration and determination, but it was a hard-fought battle all the same. It was a pitchers duel all the way through the sixth, with "magician of the mound" Seo Jae-weong (LA Dodgers) keeping a lid on the Japanese lineup, and Japanese starter and game winner Koji Uehara (Yomiuri) holding the Koreans in check throughout his seven-innings masterpiece.

But the tense stalemate was shattered in the seventh inning, when Japan unleashed a scoring explosion. Korea had phoned the bullpen at the end of the sixth and traded out Seo for Jeon Byung-doo (Kia), but Jeon's performance was short-lived, and he too was relieved after he gave up a double to the opening batter of the seventh.

Manager Kim In-shik continued his trademark flipping, calling up Kim Byung-hyun (Colorado) who opened with a dazzling strikeout, but when pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome slammed a two-run homerun into the right-field seats, the hurler was sent reeling and never recovered. After giving up another run, with a walk and a double, he turned the sinking ship over to Bong Jung-keun (Cincinnati) and Son Min-han (Lotte).

A woman’s knuckles go white as she watches the World Baseball Classic semifinals game between Korea and Japan broadcast to the Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Sunday from San Diego, California.

Son gave up three hits in rapid-fire succession, along with their accompanying two points, bringing the score to a deal-clinching 0-5. In the eighth, with pitcher Bae young-soo (Samsung), Japan launched another one over the wall just to show it could, lifting them to 6-0.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward swaps uniform with pitcher Park Chan-ho (San Diego Padres) before a World Baseball Classic semifinals game at Petco Park in San Diego on Saturday. Ward, whose mother is Korean, was in the stadium to root for the Korean team./Yonhap

The Korean team and their legions of supporters, spirit undampened by the rain, kept up the "Dae-han-min-gook" chants to the beat of their traditional drums and cymbals and held out for an eleventh-hour miracle that never materialized. And so Korea's respectable WBC run ended with a period rather than the exclamation point they were hoping for.

Crowds gather at the Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Sunday to watch a broadcast of the World Baseball Classic semifinals game between Korea and Japan from San Diego, California.

Japan now faces Cuba in the finals.

(englishnews@chosun.com )