A contender for the upcoming World Baseball Classic will be playing two exhibition scrimmages at Les Murakami Stadium.

South Korea's WBC team will play the Hanwha Eagles Korean pro team as a tuneup for the Classic at 6 tonight and 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Although there was no advance publicity because it really wasn't a planned event, the public is invited to watch. There is no admission charge, but there will be no concession sales either, stadium manager Glenn Nakaya said.

Nakaya said the teams agreed to make the scrimmages public because of apparent interest from Hawai'i's Korean community.

The WBC starts playing next weekend on different continents. South Korea opens against Chinese Taipei March 6 at Japan's Tokyo Dome.

South Korea's WBC team and the Eagles have been training at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park for about a month. With the Hawai'i Rainbows away in Minnesota, the stadium was open for the South Korean teams.

The Eagles have been holding spring training at the park the past four years. Hanwha's manager In-sik Kim also is the manager of the WBC team. Kim managed the South Korean Olympic team to a bronze medal in the 2000 Games in Sydney. He also led South Korea to a gold medal at the Busan Asian Games in 2002. He also managed the country's first WBC team in 2006.

Cleveland Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is the only U.S. major leaguers listed on the South Korean WBC roster.

South Korea is expected to be serious contender in the Classic. The country is coming off winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last summer under Doosan Bears manager Kyung-Moon Kim.

In the inaugural WBC in 2006, South Korea lost to eventual champion Japan in the semifinals after going 6-0 in pool play. South Korea's 6-1 record was the best among the 16-team field.

The Hanwha Eagles play in the eight-team Korea Baseball Organization. The Eagles are based in Daejeon City. Like Japan, teams are sponsored by corporations.