'Minister Choi should reflect on his own conduct first'

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won said Thursday she had sent official letters to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and the Korea Baseball Softball Association urging them to rescind the disciplinary action against the Baejaego High School baseball team and show leniency toward the students.

In a Facebook post Thursday, Na said the six-month ban from national competitions was "an extremely harsh form of collective punishment that would instantly derail the career paths and baseball lives of students on the verge of college entrance and the professional draft."

On the broader controversy, Na said turning even an everyday word like "Starbucks" into a political taboo and branding people through arbitrary association was "an ideologically overcharged farce born of the divisive politics of President Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party." She added, "When adults have sown the seeds of hatred that have seeped into school grounds, why should the full weight of responsibility fall on teenage students?"

Turning to Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin, who had publicly lectured the Baejaego students about "dignity," Na said Choi was "a three-time convicted offender, including for drunk driving." She said it was "only proper that he first reflect on his own dignity — a man who shared Cheonan conspiracy theories and mocked Oct. 26, the date of President Park Chung-hee's assassination, by calling it 'Tangtang Day.'"

Na said those in power showed boundless tolerance toward ruling-camp figures who once celebrated the eve of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising at a hostess bar, and toward a broadcaster who openly called on television for tanks to be deployed — yet were "itching to brand a group of student baseball players with a scarlet letter."

She said using vulnerable students as sacrificial offerings to conceal adults' hypocrisy and double standards, and publicly shaming them, was "not education but cruel violence." She added that the heavy punishment was "a clear violation of the rules and an abuse of authority, with regulations twisted to fit a predetermined conclusion."

Na cited the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's Sports Fairness Commission rules, saying the only ground for imposing a six-month team ban under the disciplinary standards for disorderly conduct during competition was "obstruction of play through refusal to accept a referee's decision." Heavy sanctions of six months or more against individual players were likewise limited to cases involving refusal to accept rulings, deliberate delays, verbal abuse or assault. "On what basis are students being severely punished for a cheer chant?" she asked.

Na said imposing collective punishment on the entire team by stretching the rules to appease public opinion and political pressure was "arbitrary punishment that falls entirely outside the scope of the regulations." She said that even if the urgency of the situation had required an emergency committee session during the competition, the association's own explicit rules requiring that "the subject of disciplinary action be given an opportunity to make a statement" had been "completely ignored." She asked whether rushing to hand down what amounted to a death sentence within just two days, without giving the students a proper chance to explain themselves, was what the authorities meant by "sports fairness," calling it "a cowardly decision that sacrificed high school students' futures to suit those in power."

Na acknowledged that some had cited cases of severe penalties for hate speech in overseas sports to argue the punishment was justified, but said that "no matter how strong the case for punishment, disciplinary action can only be legitimate when it is grounded in clearly codified rules." She strongly urged the relevant authorities to reconsider and show leniency, calling for a response centered on education and guidance to prevent recurrence rather than "a harsh mob-justice-style heavy sanction that cuts short an athlete's career." She added, "Blind punishment and coercion that simply suppress and bury the issue can never win the genuine empathy and respect of the next generation."


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