Korean baseballers earn pittance compared to those in Japan

The economic gap between Korea and Japan has significantly narrowed, with the International Monetary Fund saying Korea’s per capita GDP was 20,591 U.S. dollars last year, about half of Japan’s 42,820 dollars.

The disparity in the salaries of the two countries` pro baseball leagues is vast, however. Japanese players earn at least six times more than their Korean counterparts on average per year.

○ Six-fold salary difference

The Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association, which surveyed 734 players (excluding foreigners) this season, said Tuesday that the league`s average annual salary was 39.31 million yen (490,000 dollars), the highest since the study was introduced in 1988.

In contrast, the average salary of 406 Korean players was 87.04 million won (80,000 dollars) as announced by the Korean Baseball Organization in February.

The Japanese team with the highest payroll was the Hanshin Tigers, which has a large and enthusiastic fan base. Loaded with stars including Tomoaki Kanemoto, Kyuji Fujikawa and Kenji Jozima, the Tigers paid its players an average 55.46 million yen (687,800 dollars) each, or 6.5 times the average player salary of the Korean league champion Incheon SK Wyverns (114.02 million won or 105,000 dollars).

The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, which had ranked first in payroll for 14 consecutive years from 1988 to 2008, fell from third to fourth last year with an annual average salary of 47.29 million yen (586,000 dollars),

Japan`s highest-paid player was pitcher Darvish Yu of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters with 500 million yen (6.2 million dollars), nearly 10 times the salary of Korea`s best-compensated player Kim Dong-joo of the Seoul Doosan Bears (700 million won or 648,000 dollars).

Since many players in Japan can earn more via performance incentives, many Korean players head for the Japanese league once they become free agents.

○ No. of Korean players earning 100 million won or more falls by 10

The number of Korean players who earned 100 million won (93,000 dollars) or more declined from 100 in 2009 to 90 last year. In contrast, the number of Japanese players who earned 100 million yen (1.24 million dollars), the threshold for top-tier players, reached a record-high 80 last season.