Hawai'i turned out to be more than paradise for South Korea's World Baseball Classic team. It was perfect.

"The weather is really nice," South Korea manager In-sik Kim said through an interpreter. "We have Korean food every day. Everything feels like it's in Korea."

Since Feb. 16, Korea's team has been training at Patsy Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park in Wapi'o in preparation for the second WBC, which starts this coming weekend. Korea opens pool play against Chinese Taipei March 6 at Japan's Tokyo Dome. Also in Korea's pool is Japan and China.

(The other pools will be played in Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico. The U.S. opens against Canada March 7.)

It's no accident that Kim had his country's team train here. Some 20 years ago, he made his first trip here. He was then manager of the Ssangbangwool Raiders and set up spring training at Aloha Stadium with the help of Don Takaki, chairman of Island Movers. They've been friends ever since, Takaki said.

Kim now manages the Hanwha Eagles of Korea Baseball Organization, the pro league of that country. The Eagles have been holding spring training here the past four years. Kim said if he is the manager of the next WBC team, he will bring it here again to train.

"We love Hawai'i," he said. "Hawai'i's our first option for spring training."

That should be enlightening for Hawai'i's Korean community. Despite minute's notice, some 200 people showed up for a scrimmage between Korea's WBC team and the Eagles Thursday night at Les Murakami Stadium. The teams also scrimmaged Friday afternoon. It was Korea's tuneup for the WBC.

The Korean team is made up of players from the KBO. The non-KBO players are pitcher Chang-young Lim of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and outfielder Shin-soo Choo of the Cleveland Indians.

Korea departed for Japan yesterday. The Eagles will be here through March 6 before leaving for Korea.

Kim isn't making any bold predictions for Korea, which lost to Japan in the semifinals of the 2006 WBC.

"Japan is a great team," Kim said. "Baseball is unpredictable, so against Japan we're underdogs. But who knows?"