Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrant for Kia Tigers Manager Kim Jong-guk on Charges of Embezzlement and Bribery

Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrant for Former Director Jang Jeong-seok on Same Charges

The prosecution has requested arrest warrants for former Kia Tigers baseball team director Jang Jeong-seok and manager Kim Jong-guk on charges including breach of trust and bribery.

Kia Tigers Manager Kim Jong-kook. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The Major Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Il-gyu) announced on the 29th that on the 24th, they filed arrest warrants against former director Jang and manager Kim on charges including breach of trust and bribery, which were identified during the investigation of a case requested by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). The warrant hearings for the two are scheduled to be held on the 30th at the Seoul Central District Court.

Former director Jang is accused of demanding a bribe from catcher Park Dong-won (LG Twins) during the 2022 free agent (FA) contract negotiation process. Subsequently, Park reported to the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association that Jang had demanded a bribe, and when the KIA team, upon learning of this, requested an explanation, Jang reportedly claimed it was a joking remark.

Thereafter, the KIA team stated, "We cannot tolerate improper conduct involving demands for money during negotiations with our players," and held a disciplinary committee, which dismissed former director Jang in March of last year. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) referred Jang to the prosecution for investigation in April last year. The prosecution conducted a search and seizure of Jang’s residence and other locations in November last year.

Manager Kim was recently summoned and investigated by the prosecution. It is known that this bribery case is separate from the recent case involving a high-ranking official of an independent baseball team who received large sums of money under the pretext of joining a professional baseball team.

The Kia Tigers suspended manager Kim’s duties abruptly the day before. The team announced that they confirmed Kim was under investigation by authorities based on a tip received on the 25th of this month, and finalized this confirmation during a meeting with Kim on the 27th. They judged that Kim could not perform his duties as the team’s manager normally and thus took the measure to suspend his duties.

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