Prosecutors Indict Former KIA Manager Jang Jeong-seok and Ex-Coach Kim Jong-guk for Hundred-Million Won Bribery Case

Received Money for Advertising Convenience
Also Accused of Demanding 200 Million KRW Three Times from Park Dong-won

Former KIA Tigers general manager Jang Jeong-seok and former manager Kim Jong-guk of professional baseball have been brought to trial on charges of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from sponsors.

Former Kia Tigers General Manager Jang Jeong-seok, who is accused of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from a sponsoring company of the club. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The Major Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Il-gyu) indicted former GM Jang and former manager Kim without detention on charges including breach of trust and bribery on the 7th. Kim Mo (65), the representative of a dining business who provided the money to them, was also brought to trial on charges of mediation of breach of trust.

According to the prosecution, former GM Jang and former manager Kim are accused of receiving a total of 160 million won from Kim between July and October 2022 in exchange for facilitating advertising contracts upon his request. The prosecution found that in October, the two received 100 million won in the manager's office inside the baseball stadium along with a request related to the establishment of a new home run zone on the stadium fence displaying the company's advertisement.

Separately, former manager Kim was also investigated for receiving 60 million won in July as a bribe for facilitating advertising on players' uniform shoulder patches.

Former GM Jang reportedly conveyed Kim's demands to the team's marketing staff, instructing them to prepare a plan, and subsequently took measures to ensure various requests were reflected. Former manager Kim is understood to have relayed Kim's demands to former GM Jang and directly provided the contact information of Kim's company employees to the team's advertising staff.

Kia Tigers manager Kim Jong-kook, who is accused of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from one of the team's sponsors. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Through this, the prosecution judged that Kim's company was able to secure contracts not only for uniform shoulder patches, catcher's protective gear, and skybox advertisements managed directly by the baseball team but also for backstop and outfield fence home run zone advertisements managed by a separate advertising agency.

Former GM Jang and former manager Kim admitted to receiving the bribes but testified to the prosecution that Kim, a passionate fan of KIA, gave the money as encouragement funds to boost the players' morale. However, the prosecution confirmed that the two split the 100 million won they received together into 50 million won each and used most of the money for stock investments, allowances for their children, travel expenses, and personal financial transactions without informing the team or players about the bribes.

The prosecution also applied charges against former GM Jang for allegedly demanding 200 million won three times from catcher Park Dong-won (currently with the LG Twins), who was about to sign a free agent (FA) contract between May and August 2022, promising to secure at least 1.2 billion won in contract money, but was rejected and thus the attempt failed.

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