South Korea will take on world No. 1 Canada in its first appearance at the top men's hockey world championship next year.
The International Ice Hockey Federation on Tuesday announced seedings for its top-tier World Championship for next year.
South Korea earned a promotion to the competition by finishing second at the Division I Group A tournament last month in Ukraine, and will be among the 16 teams in action in Denmark next May.
(Yonhap)
The 16 teams will be divided into two groups of eight. South Korea, ranked 21st, is in Group B with Canada (No. 1), Finland (No. 4), the United States (No. 5), Germany (No. 8), Norway (No.9), Latvia (No. 12) and Denmark (No. 13).
The Group A teams are Russia (No. 2), Sweden (No. 3), the Czech Republic (No. 6), Switzerland (No. 7), Belarus (No. 10), Slovakia (No. 11), France (No. 14) and Austria (No 16).
Group B teams will play at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, while Group A nations will be at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
The seedings were based on the latest world rankings unveiled Monday. South Korea climbed two spots to No. 21, its highest position ever, thanks to its strong showing at the Division I Group A event.
After the round robin play, the top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. The last-place teams in each group will be demoted to Division I Group A for 2019.
No team since France in 2008 has survived the top competition in the first year after the promotion.
Three months prior to the World Championship, South Korea, coached by former National Hockey League defenseman Jim Paek, will also face Canada in the group stage of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The Czech Republic and Switzerland are the other teams in the same group. (Yonhap)