Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG), Lee Yong-chan (NC), and Chung Chul-won (Doosan) have been fined and ordered to perform community service for drinking alcohol during the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held a punishment committee meeting at the Baseball Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on July 7 to finalize and announce the three players’ punishments.
Kim Kwang-hyun will serve 80 hours of community service and be fined 5 million won, while Lee Yong-chan and Jung Chul-won will serve 40 hours of community service and be fined 3 million won. Their punishment was based on Article 151 of the KBO’s Code of Conduct, “Impairment of Dignity. According to the code, if a player engages in behavior that impairs dignity outside of the game and causes a social scandal, appropriate sanctions can be imposed, including disqualification, suspension, suspension of participation, suspension of travel, imposition of a fine, or a warning.
According to the KBO’s investigation, during the official period between the WBC team’s arrival in Tokyo, Japan, on March 7 and the game against China on March 13, Kim Kwang-hyun entered an entertainment bar twice between 0:00 and 1:00 a.m. on March 7 and again on 먹튀검증 March 11, shortly after the end of the game against Japan on March 10. Chung Chul-won accompanied Kwang-hyun on one occasion on the morning of the 11th, and Lee Yong-chan was found to have entered the venue separately from the two players on the 11th. Kwang-hyun, who entered the bar twice, received a higher level of discipline than Yong-chan and Chung, who visited the bar once.
On the same day, Kim Kwang-hyun, Lee Yong-chan, and Chung Chul-won appeared in person at the penalty committee. After their testimonies, all three said, “I told the truth without lying,” and “I accept the outcome of the punishment committee. We apologize for causing trouble once again.”
Their drinking was reported by an online media outlet on March 30, and the players admitted to drinking and apologized on March 1. The media outlet reported that the players drank alcohol on March 8, the day before the game against Australia (March 9), and on March 10, the day of the game against Japan, but the players clarified that they drank alcohol “on March 7, the day before the team played an exhibition game against a Nippon Professional Baseball Team in Osaka and traveled to Tokyo for the first round of the tournament, and on the afternoon of March 10, the day before the rest day without a game (March 11).”
“All 25 players except Kim Kwang-hyun, Lee Yong-chan, and Chung Chul-won confirmed that they did not visit any bars,” the KBO said. “We once again deeply apologize for the drinking controversy caused by our players at the 2023 WBC, which fell short of our expectations,” the organization said, adding, “We will thoroughly prepare and work to prevent future recurrences by further refining the national team’s operating regulations.”