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South Williamsport, Pa. • In the giddy moments after South Korea won the Little League World Series, outfielder Don Wan Sin realized how he wanted to celebrate.
"I want to go to the Blue House — the White House of Korea — and meet the President," Sin said, breaking up his teammates.
Just maybe Sin, who scored twice and hit a solo homer, will indeed get his wish to meet Park Geun-hye.
He's famous back in his homeland — along with all of his teammates.
Jae Yeong Hwang drove in two runs and combined with Hae Chan Choi, who weathered a late Chicago rally, to lead the Asia-Pacific Region champions to an 8-4 win in Sunday's LLWS championship game.
International teams have won the last three and four of the last five titles.
Brandon Green went 52⁄3 innings for Chicago, which had survived four straight knockout games before the final. Chicago, the Great Lakes Region champions, came back from 3-0 and 5-4 deficits to beat favored West champ Las Vegas Mountain Ridge 7-5 in the U.S. title game on Saturday. Earlier, South Korea, the Asia-Pacific Region winner, rolled over Japan, 12-3.
But they couldn't come back against the powerful South Koreans, who asserted themselves early.
Hwang set down the first six Chicago hitters, four on strikeouts.
DJ Butler broke up Hwang's no-hitter with a spinning cue shot to short that he beat out leading off the third. That was all for Hwang after he had mentioned to his coaches that he was sick between innings. He traded places with first baseman Choi, who was greeted by shortstop Ed Howard's bouncer to the mound that was scored a single.
But South Korea would hold off the U.S.
"[We] felt like we had a chance even when we were down 8-1," Chicago manager Darold Butler said. "[South Korea] had a pretty good game. They were the better team today."