The team arrive in Japan this year fresh from a break after withdrawing from the 2015 World Grand Prix. In the 2014 competition, they finished eighth in Group 1 with impressive wins over Thailand, Russia, Germany and Serbia. More recently they won the silver medal at the 2015 Asian Championships in Tianjin, China, in May. Korea have appeared at every edition of the World Cup but have recently failed to get close to a medal. They won a bronze medal in the first two World Cups in 1973 and 1977 but since then have a best finish of fourth in 1999, when they lost two more games than bronze medallists Brazil. In 2011 they registered victories over the three teams that would eventually finish below them, Argentina, Algeria and Kenya, to finish in ninth-place.

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. They won bronze medals at the 1967 and 1974 World Championships, and were third in the 1973 and 1977 World Cups. Recently they have faded but remain one of the powerhouses of Asian volleyball, winning their second Asian Games title in 2014 on home soil in Incheon.