Actor Han Jeong-su publicly criticizes Korean baseball team: 'Highest-paid and still lost to Australia?'

Actor Han Jeong-su, 53, has publicly criticized the South Korean national baseball team for its poor performance.

Han took to social media recently to voice frustration over the team's struggles.

"How did Korean baseball come to this?" Han wrote, according to Star Today. "We even lost a comeback game to Australia, the weakest team. I was already furious about soccer, but baseball is even more of a mess."

Han went on to question the lack of public scrutiny directed at the baseball team. "With soccer, the whole nation pays attention — people track every player's condition and get worked up over it. Baseball is in an even worse state than soccer right now, yet nobody says a word. Isn't that completely unreasonable?" Han wrote.

Han also took aim at player salaries. "This is baseball with the highest-paid players. Drastic measures are needed," Han wrote, adding the hashtag "total chaos" to the post.

The comments came after South Korea suffered a come-from-behind loss to Australia on Thursday at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship in Tokyo. Korea fell 7-8 in the opening game at Tokyo Dome, having trailed 0-4 early before scoring six runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, only to see the bullpen collapse in the final innings and surrender it again.

The defeat deepened concerns about South Korea's competitiveness on the international stage, coming on the heels of another loss to Australia at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

Meanwhile, Han made his debut in the 2003 film "Tube" and has appeared in the drama series "Dae Jo-yeong," "Chuno," "Geunchogo-wang" and "Bameul Geotneun Seonbi."