"Baseball People, Please Keep Your Promise, Ma!" Oh Gyuseok, Busan Gijang County Governor, Visits KBO

Solo Protest Urging Establishment Agreement for 'Korea Baseball Hall of Fame'

"Let's Build a Miraculous Baseball Sanctuary Surpassing New York Cooperstown"

On the 12th at 2:30 PM, Oh Gyu-seok, the mayor of Gijang-gun, held a solo protest in front of the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, urging the prompt establishment of the "Korea Baseball Hall of Fame."
[Image source=Gijang-gun]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for the development of the county and its residents.”

The mayor of Busan’s Gijang-gun, known as an ‘administrative master’ for his solo protests to achieve goals, has once again taken to the streets. This time, he stood in front of Korean ‘baseball.’

On the 12th at 2:30 PM, Mayor Oh Gyu-seok of Gijang-gun held a solo protest in front of the Korea Baseball Hall of Fame in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, calling for the prompt establishment of the ‘Korea Baseball Hall of Fame.’

This was his second solo protest following the one on October 7 last year. It was to urge the normalization of the ‘Korea Baseball Hall of Fame’ project, which had been delayed due to issues such as the replacement of the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) management and the burden of operating costs, and to demand the implementation of the ‘KBO-Busan City-Gijang-gun Implementation Agreement.’

Mayor Oh emphasized, “The Hall of Fame construction project is a key project for Gijang-gun, which was selected after fierce competition with metropolitan cities such as Seoul and Incheon to commemorate 100 years of Korean baseball and 30 years of professional baseball.”

He urged the project’s smooth progress, saying, “Since Gijang-gun has invested a huge amount of capital to improve the surroundings of the Korea Baseball Hall of Fame according to the 2014 KBO-Busan City-Gijang-gun Implementation Agreement, the KBO should also promptly carry out the related procedures according to the agreement so that the Hall of Fame can be built as soon as possible.”

Gijang-gun has been fulfilling the conditions of the ‘Implementation Agreement.’ It has established and operates not only regular and little league baseball fields but also the country’s only softball field.

In addition to the 28 billion KRW invested so far, it plans to invest an additional 15 billion KRW to build an indoor baseball practice facility, a baseball experience center, an annex parking lot, and a plaza.

The plan of Gijang-gun is for the Hall of Fame, which was hard-won together with Busan City, to be promptly and properly advanced so that it can become a baseball sanctuary like Cooperstown in New York, USA, which attracts 300,000 to 500,000 tourists and baseball enthusiasts annually.

Gijang-gun is providing about 1,850㎡ of land, and Busan City is investing 10.8 billion KRW in the project costs. Once the Hall of Fame is built, the KBO was to take charge of its operation; however, since the agreement, the project has stalled due to issues such as changes in KBO management and the burden of operating costs.

This is why Mayor Oh has taken to solo protesting. He envisions creating a miraculous baseball city in Busan that will generate jobs and places to relax.

Gijang-gun successfully hosted the 2016 Women’s Baseball World Cup, the 2018 Gijang International Baseball Festival, and the 2019 World Youth Baseball Championship.

The dream of completing Gijang-gun as the mecca of Korean baseball, equipped with world-class baseball infrastructure, is intertwined with the ‘Baseball Hall of Fame’ construction project.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.