K League 2 Media Day 2023: Busan IPark Captain Lee Han-do

After a disappointing 2022 that saw the club struggle to pull themselves aawy from the foot of the table, Busan IPark have had time to rebuild over the winter and are hoping to prove many people wrong in the season ahead. Captain Lee Han-do briefly gave his thoughts to K League United's Matthew Binns at the recent K League 2 Media Day.

Matthew Binns: Last season was disappointing for Busan. What has the club done in pre-season this year to ensure they don’t repeat what happened?

Lee Han-do: I think we’ve prepared a lot mentally. The coach has also emphasised those things a lot and we’ve trained a lot to cut down on the number of goals we concede. We also trained a lot in regard to scoring, so I think we’re well prepared.

MB: You joined last year in the summer. How are you feeling this year now you’ve had time to adapt to your new surroundings?

LH: I'm really looking forward to it. It's a season where I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to it because I'll be able to perform better than last year.

[READ: Busan IPark Season Preview]

MB: You worked with manager Park Jin-sub at Gwangju FC. What is he like to play for?

LH: With him, there is the feeling of constantly learning new things. The coach is so smart that it feels like learning new things about the game every day, so it's fun in training.

MB: You have experience at winning this league. What are the biggest challenges for teams in K League 2 and how is that different from K League 1?

LH: First of all, I think the most important thing when winning K League 2 is to get a lot of points in the beginning. The difference between K1 is that K2 is it is definitely more of a battle, so I think the games are a bit more difficult. The technical stuff might be a bit off, but I think the attitude involved in those matches is a bit different. I think playing in K2 is a bit more physically demanding.

MB: Busan have signed a number of new players. Which one do you think fans will be most excited to see?

LH: Since we didn't score a lot last year, I think you can look forward to our new players, Fessin and Choi Geon-joo. I think we will score a lot this year

MB: Finally, what are Busan’s targets for the season?

LH: Of course, the target is promotion. It would be great to go up as champions but whichever way we do it, promotion is our goal.

You can listen to our K League Media Day interviews on the K League United Podcast.