SEOUL, South Korea - It's a Thursday night game in Seoul, and the manager in the visitors' dugout is on a dual mission: absorbing and enjoying the wonders of Korean baseball while trying to change some of it.

What he likes is what goes on in the stands: Unbridled, always-positive, always-respectful enthusiasm by fans who sing, chant and cheer throughout the game.

What he's trying to change is the same culture of respect that makes Korean baseball less aggressive than the hard-sliding brand he is used to back home.

That's life on a day-to-day, game-to-game basis for former Atlanta Brave Jerry Royster, who, as the rookie skipper of the Lotte Giants, is the first American to manage a team in the Korean Baseball Organization.

"I'm having a blast," he said. "I'm having an absolute blast."

Royster, 56, was a 16-season major leaguer (including 1976 to 1984 with the Braves, with a brief return at the end of his career in 1988). He returned to the majors as a coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and became manager in 2002 when Davey Lopes was fired.

Royster was let go at the end of the season, putting him a minor league coaching path that led to South Korea this year.

The connection to Asian baseball came through Bobby Valentine, a former major league manager, who manages another team owned by the same sponsor, the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.

Team owners were looking to breathe new life into the Korean team. "They were looking for someone to come over and try to do what Bobby had done over there," Royster said.

Royster knew nothing about Korean baseball, a game he first saw when he managed in January in spring training after taking the job last Thanksgiving.

"Baseball is still baseball. It's still three strikes," Royster said, glossing over the Korean rule that declares a game a tie after 12 innings. "The differences are somewhat subtle."

And the differences are an extension of Korean culture, a culture based on respect for others - even opponents.

"The approach that the players have here is quite different than what we are used to in the United States. It's not very aggressive baseball and they are very respectful of each other. That comes into play quite a bit on double plays. They don't break up double plays. And when guys get hit (by a pitch) there is somewhat of an 'I'm sorry' kind of attitude for hitting you," he said.

It's a mind-set that led to what Royster called a "major incident" recently when a pitcher threw at an older player and then dissed him. The pitcher's manager chose not to manage the next day because he was embarrassed by his player's behavior.

Royster is trying to balance respect for local attitudes with an effort to get his players to be more aggressive. It's difficult, and a work in progress, he said.

"I find myself depending on my coaches, who I also had to kind of break in. It isn't fully done yet. Slowly but surely, they are starting to learn when to be aggressive," said Royster, who brought a Korean-born friend from the U.S. to be his interpreter.

Case in point: With the winning run on second, the Korean tradition is to try to bunt him to third instead of trying to drive him in with a base hit.

"Being the hero isn't a real part of" Korean baseball, Royster said. "I'm starting to see as the season goes on that they are getting a little more aggressive. Guys are starting to drive in runs."

And it's showing up in the standings. The Giants are in third place and drawing fans in record numbers. It's quite a change for a team that has missed the playoffs for eight years. And it's hard to miss the playoffs in the Korean league, where four of the eight teams qualify.

Third place is heady territory for fans of the Lotte Giants, who play their home games in Busan, South Korea's second-largest city. Royster is amazed at the fan response, which is not unusual for Korean teams. Each team uses a lone male cheerleader and four female cheerleaders to lead the singing, chanting and dancing that continues as long as their team is at bat.

It's all positive. No booing. There's even polite applause to recognize the effort of a player who strikes out.

"We just won three games in Seoul. We were beating them 10-0 and their fans were still cheering in the ninth inning with two outs like it was a 1-1 ball game. They just never lose their enthusiasm. Our fans are even crazier. They just go wild about the Lotte Giants," Royster said.

"It's hard to explain. These is no U.S. comparison. They say it's like Cub fans, which would be great except Cub fans boo their own team," he said. "Booing is not something they ever do. I've never heard a boo."

And the respect goes both ways: Win or lose, a Korean team goes on the field and bows to its fans after the game. From there - still in uniform - the players walk from the stadium, through the fans, to the team bus. At the team hotel, the players eat in their uniforms.

"There is so much that goes on that makes it so pleasant here," Royster said, who is impressed with the quality of play and predicts good things for South Korea's baseball team in the upcoming Olympics.