For a decade beginning in the late 1960s, Korea were a force to be reckoned with in any tournament. They lost in the semifinal at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, eventually being placed fourth, and took the bronze medal at Montreal 1976. At the London 2012 Olympic Games, they entered the final four but lost the bronze medal to Asian rivals Japan. The Koreans qualified to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after being one of the top three ranked teams at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan. They won bronze medals at the 1967 and 1974 World Championships, and were third in the 1973 and 1977 World Cups. 
Korea remain as one of the powerhouses of Asian volleyball, winning their second Asian Games title in 2014 on home soil in Incheon. More recently they won the silver medal at the 2015 Asian Championships in Tianjin, China. In the World Cup, Korea appeared in every edition and have won bronze medals in the first two World Cups in 1973 and 1977, but since then, their best finish was fourth in 1999, when they lost two more games than bronze medallists Brazil. In 2011 they registered victories over the three teams – Argentina, Algeria and Kenya – that would eventually finish below them. In 2015 they finished in sixth place behind Asian neighbours Japan, missing their first chance to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.