Deformed personnel appointments and decision-making by specific people; Hong Won-ki's dismissal scandal; Players' Association also joined; and Kiwoom's hidden owner criticized
Jul 17, 2025
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The arrows of criticism are focused on the Kiwoom Heroes, who are about to start the second half of the year. Even the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association joined the criticism.
In a statement on the 17th, the Korea Professional Baseball Association criticized Kiwoom Heroes for their abnormal operations for years, including the recent media criticism, and strongly urged them to stop disappointing players and fans and further hindering the development of Korean professional baseball as a whole.
The Players' Association said, `Recently, Kiwoom Heroes has been on the cutting board for its unconventional personnel appointments, and the contents of the allegations of deformed personnel appointments by specific persons and irregularities in hiring parachutes are also at the level of a comprehensive gift set.' The fingertips of these suspicions all point to one specific person, which seems sufficient to raise suspicions that the club's management is limping for a specific individual. He pointed to Lee Jang-seok, the largest shareholder of baseball, saying, "This is not just yesterday or today, but the fact that the pus rotted and burst at once after years of hush-hush."
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The Korea Federation of Players strongly criticized the dismissal of head coach Hong Won-ki, saying, `With the unprecedented popularity and love of fans, the Kiwoom Heroes' current behavior is far from these right growth tasks and goes against the times, and it is pointed out that they are still sticking to the outdated operating system in which the management of the club is controlled by one specific person. He then warned that if the club is recognized as a private property and the evils to satisfy individual greed continue, it will be obvious that it will lead to a deterioration in the quality of Korean professional baseball, and it will be an act of putting a damper on the success of Korean professional baseball, which has been booming for a long time.
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The association pointed out that `among the many abnormal operations of the Kiwoom Heroes, especially the investment in players and facilities within the club is even more disastrous.' The management of the team well below the average salary cap will inevitably affect player depth and morale, which will inevitably serve as a factor for the club's poor performance.' He then expressed concern that `If the performance decline of a specific club is prolonged and fixed, it will not only be a problem of one club, but will inevitably lead to a decline in the quality of the entire professional baseball team.' He also pointed out the poor treatment of the second-tier squad.
Kiwoom, who gave up the Hurado Heyesus one-two punch and made an unconventional choice of choosing two foreign hitters, fell to a winning rate of around 20% in the first half amid a strategy failure, and fell to another team as a winning vending machine. Instead of Puig, Alcantata was recruited, and the team gathered together to barely finish the first half with a .300 winning rate. The team did its best, but it was not easy to overcome the systemic limitations that created the worst power structure before the season. This is why most experts pointed to Kiwoom as the lowest.
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The Korea Professional Baseball Association said, `As an organization that represents the rights of domestic professional baseball players and serves as a bridge to professional baseball fans, we can no longer overlook the club's unconventional operational actions and condemn them on behalf of Korean professional baseball players and professional baseball fans. We should reflect on the public criticism that we have stopped taking low-quality steps and have been reduced to the means of a specific person, and from now on, we should correct and normalize the deformed operational direction of the club.'
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◇ Full text of the statement of the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association on the case of raising
Kiwoom Calls for Normalization of Deformed Club Operations, Decomposed to a Specific Person's Means
The Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (Chairman Yang Hyun-jong, hereinafter 'Players Association') condemns the Kiwoom Heroes' move, which has been criticized for abnormal operations for years, including the recent media criticism, and strongly urges them to stop disappointing players and fans and further hindering the development of Korean professional baseball as a whole.
Recently, Kiwoom Heroes has been on the cutting board for its unconventional personnel appointments, and its contents are also at the level of a comprehensive gift set, including allegations of deformed personnel appointments by specific people and corruption in hiring parachutes.
However, the fingertips of these suspicions all point to one particular person, which seems sufficient to raise suspicions that the club's management is limping for a particular individual.
And it's an inconvenient truth known to baseball officials that this is not just yesterday or today, but that it has been hush-hush for years and then it has decomposed as much as the pus has rotted and exploded all at once.
Currently, Korean professional baseball is on an unprecedented box office run and is loved by unprecedented fans, breaking the record number of spectators every day.
As a result, Korean professional baseball players are doing their best in every game, and as a result, all-time ranking fights are taking place, and clubs are also holding various events in line with this situation or developing and selling goods aimed at the fan base.
Of course, there are still a lot of problems for Korean professional baseball to solve, such as improving the international competitiveness of Korean professional baseball, improving related infrastructure, improving the treatment of professional baseball players, and supplementing KBO league rules and regulations, and based on this quantitative development, players' associations, clubs, KBO and baseball-related organizations should put their heads together to solve their homework, but this is a quality concern and a healthy issue for the development of Korean professional baseball.
However, Kiwoom Heroes' current behavior is far from these right growth tasks and goes against the times, and it is still pointed out that they are sticking to the outdated operating system in which the club's management is dominated by one specific person, and people are saying that the personnel appointment was also made on a similar basis.
If the club is recognized as a private property and the evils to satisfy individual greed continue, it will be obvious that it will lead to a decrease in the quality of Korean professional baseball, and it will be an act of putting a damper on the success of Korean professional baseball, which has been booming for a long time.
In addition, this is directly or indirectly connected to future career problems of professional baseball players, which can adversely affect not only the present but also the future of professional baseball.
The abnormal operation of the Kiwoom Heroes, which has been revealed so far, is already causing many problems, but it is especially disastrous in terms of investment in players and facilities within the club.
Regarding salary cap, the operation of the team well below average will inevitably affect player depth and morale, which will inevitably act as a factor in the club's decline in performance.
If a certain club's performance declines are prolonged and fixed, this will not be just a problem for one club, but will inevitably lead to a decline in the quality of the entire professional baseball.
In particular, Kiwoom Heroes is a symbolic club based in Seoul, the capital of Korea, and currently uses the only dome stadium in Korea as its home stadium.
However, the reality has been stigmatized for years for selling players, and this has led to a decline in performance, and this year Kiwoom Heroes fans are cheering for their team, being ridiculed as a point vending machine.
This is not the only thing. The Goyang Heroes (Futures League) operation is at a more grim level.
Regarding the Goyang national baseball training site used by the Futures League team, pointing out the poor facilities is a problem every year, but there seems to be no willingness to improve.
The poor and underdeveloped player locker room is cramped to use alone, so the players' luggage is always scattered in the hallway, and in fact, the players' association holds annual team tour meetings, but there is no proper training room or seminar room, so it is intertwined in a cramped locker room.
In response, the Players Association is an organization that represents the rights of domestic professional baseball players and serves as a bridge with professional baseball fans, and it can no longer overlook the club's unconventional operational actions and condemns them on behalf of Korean professional baseball players and professional baseball fans.
Kiwoom Heroes should reflect on the public criticism that they have stopped taking low-level steps that have been on the cutting board for the present and future of Korean professional baseball, and have been reduced to a means of one specific person, and even now, they should correct and normalize the club's deformed operation direction.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
