Baejai High baseball team's ban cut, but experts warn apology alone is not enough

The Baejai High School baseball team, which had been handed a six-month competition ban after a chant denigrating the May 18th pro-democracy uprising sparked a national controversy, has had its suspension reduced to one month by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's Sports Fair Play Commission, clearing the way for the team to return to national competition.

Experts said the decision was meaningful in that it gave student athletes a chance for reflection and rehabilitation, but they were united in warning that the episode must not be read as a signal that an apology is all it takes to move on — and that education and broader social accountability must follow to prevent a recurrence.

The committee held its 19th session Monday at the Olympic Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and reduced the six-month ban that the Korea Baseball Softball Association's disciplinary panel had imposed on the Baejai High team to one month. The committee said the players' conduct did constitute grounds for discipline, but took into account that the team had visited Gwangju Ilgo to apologize and that Gwangju Ilgo — the aggrieved party — had asked for leniency.

The ruling means Baejai High can now compete in the 54th Bonghwang National High School Baseball Tournament, which opens Aug. 6. The Bonghwang tournament is in effect the last national competition the team can enter this year, and the stakes are high for third-year players whose university placements and prospects of turning professional hinge on the event.

Experts said the appeal ruling could be understood as a procedural decision made in accordance with the rules, but said the more important question was what social message the incident had left behind. Park Nam-gi, an emeritus professor at Gwangju National University of Education, said the original six-month ban had been consistent with the rules, and that reducing it in light of the victim school's request for leniency could also be understood as a rules-based decision.

However, he said the incident must not be taken to mean that wrongdoing can be resolved simply by saying sorry. "Rather, this should be an opportunity to spread awareness that hate speech and the distortion of history carry serious social consequences," he said.

Park also called on schools to play a stronger role in preventing a recurrence. "Students are often exposed to distorted historical views and a culture of hate online before they ever set foot in a classroom," he said. "Teachers need to first identify students' mistaken beliefs and values and then engage in 'unlearning' — actively dismantling those misconceptions — as part of education."

"Unlearning" refers to the process of discarding harmful habits or false information acquired through prior learning. The concept encompasses not only shedding those misconceptions but also relearning accurate knowledge, perspectives and attitudes.

The May 18th Memorial Foundation, which had itself appealed for leniency toward the Baejai High students, said that giving the students a chance for reflection and rehabilitation was one thing, but that blame for the incident must not fall on the students alone.

Ko Jae-dae, secretary general of the May 18th Memorial Foundation, said the students' wrongdoing had not disappeared, but that their sincere apology and the reconciliation process had given them a meaningful opportunity for educational recovery. "What matters now is that the student athletes take this as a lesson and never repeat the same mistake," he said.

Ko particularly noted that the company behind the marketing campaign that triggered the controversy had yet to offer a level of accountability that society could accept. "The students were the first to face disciplinary action, but the responsibility of the adults — the coaches and tournament officials who failed to stop it on the field — has not been sufficiently examined," he said.

He added that while giving students the opportunity for educational recovery was necessary, the government and education authorities needed to respond far more actively to the ongoing distortion of May 18th and the use of hate speech in some corners of society.

Earlier, some players on the Baejai High baseball team chanted slogans including "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks" and "Tank Day" directed at their opponents during a game against Gwangju Ilgo at the Cheongnyong National High School Baseball Championship on June 29, setting off the controversy.

In response, the Korea Baseball Softball Association imposed a six-month competition ban on the Baejai High team and forfeited their remaining Cheongnyong games. Baejai High students, teachers and parents subsequently visited Gwangju Ilgo to apologize, and after Gwangju Ilgo asked for leniency, Baejai High filed for an appeal on July 8.