KT Wiz outfielder Choi Byeong-dae has admitted that he used to hit his juniors in high school. The outfielder released a statement on his social media (SNS) on Sunday, apologizing for his harsh behavior. The response came less than a day after a post accusing him of bullying appeared late the previous evening. The team then chose to confront the situation head-on, appearing in the game as normal on the 17th.
The incident was triggered by a post online on the 16th. Mr. A, who claims to be a former victim of bullying, posted on a portal’s knowledge Q&A site that he was a victim of bullying in high school, where he was beaten and frequently kicked. “During a training camp in Taiwan, he gathered all the first-year players together and beat them up. They mercilessly punched and kicked Ming-Chi and beat him repeatedly,” he claimed. Mr. A claimed that this incident caused him to quit playing baseball.
The team acknowledged the harsh behavior. In his statement, he said, “At the time, there was a group hazing led by the seniors in the third grade, and I, as the sophomore captain, hazed the juniors in the first grade. I hit the juniors’ buttocks with a bat three times.” However, he emphasized that “I apologized to the juniors after the kick, and there was no assault or verbal abuse afterward.” The squadron added that it “confirmed the facts through the juniors who participated in the field training together.” Mr. A’s account was conflicting.
In fact, the squad and A had been aware of the content for months and had been trying to come to an agreement. “Initially, we tried to respond to the poster’s request for an apology and compensation as much as possible. However, we were unable to reach an agreement.” According to the club, Mr. A first raised his allegations of abuse in mid-May. He demanded a sincere apology and compensation from the team, and the team responded with an apology, but they were unable to reach an agreement. What happened in those three months?
According to the placement agency, Mr. A initially demanded a settlement of several million won, but later raised the amount to demand an apology from the placement agency. The amount ranged from several million won to half of his annual salary (170 million won). The company said that it could apologize to Mr. A, but did not agree to the settlement because it believed that paying a large amount of compensation would be an admission of wrongdoing. Afterward, Mr. A contacted the club and his agent several times to revise the amount of the settlement, but it was not accepted. 메이저놀이터
In the meantime, the agency and the club reconfirmed the facts by contacting juniors at Seongnam High School. The high school juniors claimed that there were no further assaults or insults, and that the team had maintained an amicable relationship since then, according to the team’s social media posts. They also voluntarily provided statements. Some of the eight players did not want to reveal their real names. The club has secured their statements. The club also filed a report with the KBO’s Clean Baseball Center, and Bae Jeong-dae informed the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association of the details and sought legal advice.
Choi has been playing for 11 years