Sponsor company 'bribery' charges... KIA Kim Jong-guk and Jang Jeong-seok appear for warrant hearing

Former KIA Tigers manager Kim Jong-guk and former general manager Jang Jeong-seok, who are accused of receiving bribes from a company that signed a sponsorship contract with the team, are at a crossroads regarding detention.

Kim Jong-kook, the manager of the Kia Tigers, who is accused of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from a sponsoring company of the club, is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 30th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

At 10:30 a.m. on the 30th, Judge Yoo Chang-hoon, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, is conducting a pre-arrest detention hearing for Kim, the former manager, and Jang, the former general manager, who are accused of breach of trust and bribery.

Kim, who appeared at the court for the detention hearing, headed to the courtroom without responding to reporters' questions such as "Do you admit to receiving bribes?" and "Why did you not inform the team about the related facts?" Jang also did not answer questions like "Did you share the money received with Kim?"

Kim and Jang are accused of receiving money worth around 100 million won and several tens of millions of won, respectively, from a coffee company that had a sponsorship contract with the KIA Tigers. It is known that this company handed over money to Kim several times, asking for help in signing the sponsorship agreement with the KIA Tigers.

Jang is also suspected of demanding "bribes" during negotiations with catcher Park Dong-won (currently with the LG Twins) twice last year.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) referred the case of Jang’s "player bribe demand" to the prosecution in April last year. The prosecution intensified the investigation by conducting a search of his residence and other locations on November 30 of the same year, during which they reportedly uncovered additional evidence that Kim and Jang received money from the sponsoring coffee company.

The Major Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Il-gyu) filed a detention warrant request for the two on the 24th. Following the revelation of the prosecution’s investigation, the KIA team terminated its contract with Kim the day before.

The decision on whether Kim and Jang will be detained is expected to be made as early as this afternoon.

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