Four Lotte Giants players who caused controversy by visiting a gambling establishment during spring training in Taiwan have received heavy disciplinary action.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) convened its disciplinary committee on January 23 to determine penalties for Lotte players Ko Seung-min (25), Kim Dong-hyuk (25), Kim Se-min (22), and Na Seung-yeop (24).
The committee, citing Article 151 of the KBO regulations regarding conduct unbecoming, suspended Kim Dong-hyuk for 50 games after confirming he visited the establishment three times since last year. The remaining three players, confirmed to have visited once, each received 30-game suspensions.
The committee confirmed that the four players visited a gambling arcade near their accommodations in Tainan, Taiwan—the site of Lotte's first spring camp—on January 12 and used electronic betting games.
Lotte reported the players' gambling facility visits to the KBO Clean Baseball Center on January 14.
"Although a police investigation is underway, we decided on preemptive sanctions considering the severity of the situation, including the social controversy caused by the players and the resulting damage to the league's image," the KBO stated.
Additional sanctions may be imposed pending the outcome of the police investigation. The Lotte organization is also expected to issue separate disciplinary measures.
Prior to the 10 teams' spring training camps, the KBO had issued Clean Baseball communications warning that using gambling establishments such as casinos and pachinko parlors constitutes conduct unbecoming.
Following the KBO announcement, the Lotte organization stated it "will immediately implement this decision and conduct internal discussions based on these findings," indicating it will review whether to impose additional team-level discipline.
"We once again sincerely apologize to our fans for causing concern with this unfortunate incident. We will do our best to restore trust," the team pledged.