In a story that is as of yet being buried by the Korean sports media the KBO is giving players from the 2nd place finishing WBC less than it had originally promised back before the tournament started.
The article (in Korean) doesn’t say what the original agreement was, but only that the players will receive 32 million won (about $26,000) instead of what was previously agreed upon. Naturally, the players are furious. An unnamed player in the article is reported as “raising his voice,” to the reporter, which can be interpreted as “very angry” here. Of course KBO players have no union and aren’t allowed representation, so there they’re also out of luck unless the public takes notice.
What’s particularly ify here is that the KBO has ridden the team’s WBC success like a free whore at a gold rush camp. Look at the 2009 KBO logo above. Resemble anything? Well, the KBO uses it for every single wipe away before and after every replay during every single KBO game telecast. Along with the Korean Olympic victory it’s given the league a chance to promote itself as though Korean baseball is as good and legitimate as any other country’s baseball…and fans have turned up in much larger numbers (although it should be noted the numbers are from the KBO itself).
12 responses so far ↓
1 Fred Knows Best // Sep 16, 2009 at 3:55 pm
What’s an “ORGANZATION”?
2 Shinsano // Sep 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Good god…I can’t believe I’ve missed that all this time.
3 mks // Sep 17, 2009 at 6:27 am
from the looks of it, seems like the ‘i’ fell off… now the reason for the compensation dropping off is fully understandable… KBO can’t even afford to maintain their name/logo
4 Brian // Sep 17, 2009 at 8:26 am
Off-topic, but your feed in Google Reader hasn’t been updated in over two weeks. I thought you had given up until I visited the site.
5 Shinsano // Sep 17, 2009 at 9:53 am
Yeah, my Dad just emailed me about that. Anyone have any ideas? What a pain in the butt.
6 Shinsano // Sep 17, 2009 at 10:37 am
Looks like I fixed it. For some reason the link names changed to post #s.
7 Korea Beat › KBO Stiffing Players on WBC Pay // Sep 18, 2009 at 4:20 am
[...] East Wind-Up Chronicle has a story that I’m sure every ESL teacher in Korea can relate to. This was written by Korea Beat. [...]
8 kushibo // Sep 18, 2009 at 5:50 am
Couldn’t they just make it clear — directly or indirectly — that if they don’t get what they were promised, they simply won’t play next time?
Look at the 2009 KBO logo above. Resemble anything?
Yeah, it resembles a tricolor t’aeg?k (??), one of the most common Korean design motifs, going back centuries, I believe.
In fact, last March I thought just the opposite, that World Baseball Classic logo “looks vaguely like a Korean t’aeg?k (??/??), especially the elusive sataeg?k.”
Or am I taking your comment more seriously than you intended.
Seriously, do the baseball players have any recourse to get proper payment? Or would collectively telling the KBO pay-or-no-play get them in legal trouble? I assume they’re good enough players that the KBO can’t just fire them from their teams, or even have them fired from their teams. Can they?
9 Shinsano // Sep 18, 2009 at 7:19 am
I don’t think there’s much they can do. The Korean baseball work environment is very military-style as it is. Probably moreso than most Korean companies even. My guess is they do what they’re told and just accept it.
I’ve heard of cases of players receiving delayed payments, rookies that aren’t paid in their first year…I’m sure there are other examples.
And lets also keep in mind that Korean High School Baseball players do not go to class of any kind. Nothing. They play baseball all day every day.
I’m familiar with the tri-color…I’d say it’s conveiniently similar to both. The shading is a little different in the one they use in the actual broadcasts, making the blue even more like the WBC logo, which was designed to represent the colors of all the countries participating…much like the Olympic rings were.
10 Shinsano // Sep 18, 2009 at 7:25 am
And not that it matters much or is surprising…but the Korean English language media has been completely silent on this story. That wouldn’t bug me so much if they hadn’t each published some kind of KBO propaganda attendance story (like the one linked to above in the Yonhap) within the last month or two.
11 SeoulPodcast #73: Traveling Chris | SeoulPodcast // Sep 27, 2009 at 1:36 pm
[...] Players Claim KBO is Stiffing Them on WBC Earnings | [...]
12 KBO Stiffing Players on WBC Pay « Asian Correspondent // Oct 26, 2009 at 9:36 pm
[...] East Wind-Up Chronicle has a story that I'm sure every ESL teacher in Korea can relate [...]
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