Legally, they are victims, but there are cases where they are socially criticized. Such was the case of a male actor’s cell phone hacking that turned the Korean entertainment industry upside down a few years ago. As the ID and password of the cloud used by the actor were leaked, sensitive personal information, photos, and the contents of text messages exchanged with acquaintances fell into the hands of the blackmailer.
The text messages circulated through some communities were shocking as they included derogatory remarks about women with famous actors, sexual conversations, and non-consensual filming. The image of the actor as well as several male actors who were mentioned together suffered a major blow and stopped all entertainment activities. Although they were obviously victims of hacking and their personal lives were leaked, they suffered a greater blow than the hackers.
A similar thing happened to Hanwha Eagles rookie pitcher Kim Seo-hyun. As soon as the Arizona spring camp in the United States started, Kim Seo-hyun was on the cutting board of criticism. In January, during the rookie training period in Seosan, controversy arose as posts of “gossip” for coaches and fans posted on his social media (SNS) sub-account spread throughout the baseball community. As a result of checking the facts at the club, Seohyun Kim’s account was correct. After much consideration, Hanwha gave Kim Seo-hyun a 3-day training exclusion and a fine instead of discipline.
After the punishment, Kim Seo-hyun stood in front of the players and reporters and bowed her head in apology. It is known that he apologized to his seniors by visiting each room in the dorm. The apology of tears softened the criticism a little, but it was already after a week of intensive fire had already devastated it. In other words, even before the first-round rookie debuted, he was ‘scratched’.
The Kim Seo-hyun scandal has ended, but a bitter aftertaste remains. An official from Team A shook his head, saying, “The post Kim Seo-hyun posted on social media is definitely wrong. The article in question does not contain any anti-social content. It was at the level of a young player grumbling behind him. An official from the front line said, “Isn’t there an old proverb, ‘You can curse at the Lord when you can’t see it?’ If you open your cell phone right away, everyone will have a record of exchanging complaints and complaints with family and friends. It is regrettable that it seems to be going into an atmosphere that is not even tolerated.”
An official from the publicity team of Team B , a baseball “person of interest” with 30,000
followers, said, “Rookie players who joined the pros are young at the age of 18-19. “You have to be aware and responsible as a professional athlete and be conscious of the fact that everything you say and do can be seen by others. There is no way,” he advised.
In fact, there is a fundamental problem other than Kim Seo-hyun’s social media controversy. It is through the SNS of Mr. A, who calls himself a ‘pitching analyst’, that Kim Seo-hyun’s sub-account writing is known to the outside world. Mr. A released a captured image of Kim Seo-hyun’s sub-account post in the form of answering a follower’s question. As this spread to the community, the controversy spread. Although Kim Seo-hyun is a victim whose private space was unintentionally exposed, all the blame was directed at Kim Seo-hyun as an individual.
Mr. A has frequently posted unconfirmed revealing posts related to baseball players, baseball players, and clubs before. He has been criticizing and exposing the real names of not only league ace pitchers but also managers, coaches, and commentators. Some of the baseball fans thirsty for the behind-the-scenes story of the baseball world became “influencers” with 30,000 followers as some people followed Mr. A. In particular, in recent years, he has become a ‘person of interest’ in the baseball world by intensively posting notice posts of exposure, criticism, and threats targeting several star players.
An official from a club from the legal profession said, “Since last year, we have been keeping an eye on Mr. A at the club level.” It’s not like I’m there, it’s almost like I’m at the club,” he said.
Another official from the club said, “Isn’t Kim Seo-hyun’s SNS the only thing that has been revealed as true among the contents revealed by the account? It is exaggerated or obviously false,” he said. “I know that other clubs and players besides ours are preparing legal responses.”
A baseball player who has personally investigated Mr. A said, “I claim to be a pitching expert, but I do not know exactly whether this person has played baseball in the past, whether he has actual coaching experience, and whether the revealed identity is real . There is no one. He claims to be of American nationality and his father is American, but it is unclear whether that is true. Even the players who said they met in person said they did not know exactly how old he was.”
Mr. A is known to have approached middle and high school amateur baseball players and parents through social media from several years ago. He approached and gave lessons in the name of teaching the latest training and scientific training methods that American major league players do. There are also testimonies that he presented a coaching license that he said he had acquired abroad to gain trust, and showed off his friendship with a famous player.
An official from a sports agency said, “I heard from the players that they offered to give lessons for free or almost free at first. Then I heard that they gradually demanded a fee for lessons. I heard that he did it,” he said. “If you say that you will quit because of the amount of money or because the lesson method does not suit you, then the threat starts. told
An official from the previous team A said, “Even if a player wants to respond, there are cases where he endures because he does not know what he will do because he is such an unpredictable opponent. He said, “There are times when famous celebrities are victims of fraud and intimidation, but are afraid of losing their image, so they can’t reveal it. It’s similar to that.”
According to the players, there were not a few cases where Mr. A intentionally induced ‘talk behind the scenes’. It is said that while exchanging conversations through SNS, he persistently induced them to say bad things about the manager, coaches, and colleagues. It is an explanation that after inducing gossip in the way of ‘you can tell me everything’, it was made into a player’s weakness. An official from Team A said, “Mr. A’s exposure has a retaliatory nature due to personal ill feelings that have nothing to do with the public interest. Cyber Lecca, a notorious YouTuber on YouTube (a YouTuber who creates a patchwork video whenever an issue arises and raises the number of views) I don’t know what’s different from what they’re doing,” he criticized.
Mr. A’s activities as a ‘pitching analyst’ and indiscriminate exposure are expected to pay a legal price sooner or later. The Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (President Kim Hyun-soo, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Athletes’ Association’) has responded to the players’ complaints of damage at the association level. The Athletes’ Association, which conducted the first full-scale investigation, released an official press release on February 15, saying, “Be careful of baseball lessons pretending to be licensed.”
The Athletes Association said, “Recently, we caught the activities of introducing ourselves and directly coaching or selling videos by impersonating a coaching certificate that can be obtained overseas as if it were an official qualification.” Also asked to be careful. 메이저사이트
Jang Dong-cheol, secretary-general of the Athletes’ Association, pointed out, “If you show off your official coaching license acquired overseas without revealing your identity accurately, or if you show off your friendship with a professional baseball player excessively, you need to be suspicious.” “If you introduce a certificate obtained abroad as if it were an official qualification, it is difficult to immediately confirm its authenticity,” he said. “If you have even the slightest doubt, making a decision after checking it thoroughly is the best way to avoid harm.”
Athletes’ Association opens a reporting window for amateur players
The Athletes’ Association anticipates that there will be more cases of damage caused by pitching analysts, and plans to conduct a second full enumeration investigation in the spring camp sooner or later. In addition, we plan to collect cases of amateur players, including middle and high school players, and proceed with lawsuits through the advisory lawyer of the Athletes Association. A reporting window for amateur players and the general public was also opened.
Lawyer Cho Soong-hee said, “If you look at Mr. A’s behavior that has been revealed so far, there is a lot of potential for legal problems.” In addition, revealing personal conversations or private lives constitutes defamation and contempt under the Information and Communications Network Act.”
An official from the club, who was a former lawyer, said, “We are investigating whether Mr. A issued a cash receipt properly while giving lessons, and whether he operated the lesson center while paying taxes.” “Although Kim Seo-hyun did something wrong, it’s not a matter of just getting beaten up by Kim Seo-hyun. We have to track the maliciously damaging behavior to the end and punish it. Fans should not respond to indiscriminate criticism and exposure of the player.” pointed out.