The players who caused a national drinking scandal have been fined and given community service.
The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) held a punishment committee on July 7 for Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG), Lee Yong-chan (NC), and Jeong Chul-won (Doosan), who came under fire for drinking during the World Baseball Classic (WBC), and decided to punish Kim Kwang-hyun with 80 hours of community service and a fine of 5 million won, and Lee Yong-chan and Jeong Chul-won with 40 hours of community service and a fine of 3 million won, respectively.
The three, who competed for the national team in the WBC in Tokyo, Japan, in March, were involved in a controversy when it was revealed that they had been drinking late at night during the tournament. All three apologized on the first of this month and have been removed from the team’s roster.
The KBO Investigation Committee has since received letters of inquiry from the three players and conducted in-person investigations. The manager of the restaurant was also contacted by phone to confirm the time and date of entry, payment, and the presence of employees. The players also submitted credit card records to prove their whereabouts in Tokyo.
The KBO initially concluded that the “pre-game drinking” reported by YouTubers and related online media was not true. “We have confirmed that the players visited the bars on March 7 and 11 during the official period of the tournament, from March 7, when they arrived in Tokyo, to March 13, when they played the final game against China,” the KBO said.
March 7 was the day the team arrived in Tokyo after traveling from an official practice game in Osaka. The team played Australia on March 9, Japan on March 10, the Czech Republic on March 12, and China on March 13. Kim Kwang-hyun visited the business at midnight on March 7 and at dawn on March 11 after the team finished playing Japan. Jung Chul-won accompanied Kwang-hyun on the 11th, and Lee Yong-chan also visited on the 11th, although separately. As a result, Kim Kwang-hyun, who visited twice, received twice as many community service hours and fines as Chung and Yong-chan.먹튀검증
The KBO based the punishment on Article 151 of the league’s rules, “Impairment of Dignity,” rather than the national team rules. The KBO explained, “There is a provision in the national team rules that allows us to discipline players in the league for what happened during the national team call-up, even if the call-up is over.” Some baseball fans have criticized the lack of a suspension as weak discipline.