Baejae High Coach, Two Players Suspended for Taunting Chants

The Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) has disciplined the coach and two players of Baejae High School's baseball team, along with the home plate umpire, over taunting chants that erupted during a high school baseball tournament.

The association said on the 2nd that it held its 12th Sports Fair Play Committee meeting at the Olympic Center in Seoul's Songpa District on the 1st and voted to suspend for one month each the two Baejae High players who led chants disparaging the opposing team, as well as the coach responsible for supervising them.

The association said it set the level of punishment after weighing several factors, including that Baejae High had already been penalized at the team level, that the players had shown deep remorse and delivered a sincere apology to Gwangju Jeil High School, the school targeted by the chants, and that Gwangju Jeil accepted the apology and called for leniency.

The association had earlier barred Baejae High from national tournaments for six months, a penalty later reduced to one month through a review by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's Sports Fair Play Committee.

As a result, Baejae High competed last month in the Phoenix Flag National High School Baseball Tournament, the final national competition of the year.

Separately from the disciplinary action, the two Baejae High students who led the chants have decided to end their playing careers.

The association also suspended the game's home plate umpire for one month, holding him responsible for lax oversight after he allowed play to continue without appropriate sanctions even as the inappropriate chants persisted.

A Gwangju Jeil High coach who directed abusive language and profanity at the opposing dugout while protesting was reprimanded, with the association taking into account the circumstances of the violation.

"It is deeply regrettable that such an unsavory incident occurred in student baseball," KBSA President Yang Hae-young said, pledging to prevent a recurrence. The association said it plans to expand efforts to discourage inappropriate chants at venues and to draw up a code of conduct for teams that will take effect from the 2027 national tournaments.