Amid disciplinary action against Baejae High School's baseball team over a controversy about "regional slur cheering" that erupted at the national high school baseball tournament, the Paichai School alumni association appealed for leniency for the student athletes.
Kim Dong-yeon, the 39th president of the Paichai School alumni association, visited the Korea Baseball Softball Association headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd and read a petition.
Kim said, "The 80,000 alumni of the Paichai School alumni association submit this with deep responsibility and earnest hearts. We sincerely and repeatedly apologize to the Gwangju Il High School student athletes and alumni who were hurt by what happened during the Blue Dragon Flag tournament."
He added, "The Paichai School alumni association is once again realizing how important the responsibility is to guide and teach our juniors properly."
The controversy arose on the 29th at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul during the first round of the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship and Weekend League Champions Showdown between Gwangju Il High School and Baejae High School. At the time, some Baejae players repeatedly chanted toward the Gwangju Il High School dugout, "You should go, you should go, you should go to Starbucks."
The chant was interpreted as a mocking remark that evoked the "May 18 Tank Day" event controversy by Starbucks Korea in May, spreading into a regional disparagement dispute.
The Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) urgently convened the 11th Sports Fairness Committee meeting on the 1st at Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and reviewed Baejae High School's cheering controversy. The association handed Baejae's baseball team a six-month suspension from national tournaments.
Kim appealed that, apart from the disciplinary action, the students should reflect and be given a chance to grow again.
He said, "Our juniors are students who are still in the process of learning and growing. It is such a precious value to give them the opportunity to recognize their mistake, reflect, and grow into better people," adding, "We appeal with the sentiment of seniors and fathers. We earnestly ask that you look not only at our juniors' present but also at their potential and future."
He also said, "Please embrace them as the sons and juniors of this land, and I earnestly ask again that you show leniency so that this one experience becomes a lifelong lesson and they can grow into more mature talent."
Kim also emphasized the alumni association's role in preventing recurrence. He said, "Taking this incident as a lesson, we will teach and practice the values of respect, consideration, and sportsmanship more deeply and do our utmost to ensure the same thing is not repeated," adding, "Please embrace them warmly and allow them once more the chance to grow into proud sons of Korea in this society. So we can repay your trust, 80,000 alumni will take responsibility together, find ways to lead our juniors, and put them into practice."