Baseball Coach & School Violence: Why He Took a Stand | 오!쎈 가오슝

[OSEN=가오슝, 길준영 기자] Professional baseball Kiwoom Heroes Park Jun-hyun (19) is working hard in spring camp preparing for the season despite the school violence controversy.

Kiwoom coach Seol Jong-jin said at the 2026 season spring camp held at Kookboqingpu Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on the 3rd, “I am thinking of Park Jun-hyun as a bullpen player. It is difficult to talk about his position right now. However, I don’t think he will be assigned to the 8th inning right away.”

Park Jun-hyun joined Kiwoom as a first round (1st pick) pick in the 2026 rookie draft. Park Jun-hyun, who is famous as the son of Samsung’s second-team batting coach Park Seok-min, who played as the representative slugger third baseman in the KBO League, has attracted great expectations by throwing fastballs that easily exceed 150 km per hour since his high school days. Kiwoom also did not hide its high expectations for Park Jun-hyun, giving him the second-highest rookie contract amount ever (700 million won).

However, Park Jun-hyun is caught up in the school violence issue, which has been suspected since the time of the rookie draft. At the time, Kiwoom also began to investigate the facts regarding Park Jun-hyun’s suspicions of school violence, and a school violence countermeasure review committee was held, but it was confirmed that he was judged ‘not school violence’. Therefore, we were able to confidently nominate Park Jun-hyun.

[OSEN=가오슝(대만), 이석우 기자] Kiwoom Heroes Park Jun-hyeon 250 2026.02.03 / [email protected]

However, on December 9th of last year, the Chungcheongnam-do Office of Education Administrative Appeals Committee overturned the previous school violence committee’s decision of not guilty and issued the first decision (written apology), and the problem reignited. After much deliberation, Park Jun-hyun finally decided to once again contest whether school violence occurred through an administrative lawsuit and application for suspension of execution.

The controversy does not pose a regulatory problem for Park Jun-hyun playing in the KBO league. Kiwoom also did not mention disciplinary action regarding this controversy, saying, “The club plans to continue providing guidance and management to help the player grow into a professional player with the right values and mature personality through educational programs and expert consultations being implemented for the players.” The KBO, which has no cases of disciplinary action for school violence controversies, also has a basic position that what happens before becoming a professional player is under the jurisdiction of the KBSA (Korea Baseball Softball Association).

On the 1st, Park Jun-hyun said, “I am deeply reflecting on the inappropriate words and actions I made to my friend. I want to apologize.” However, if I make a written apology, I will be acknowledging other aspects, even things I did not do. “That’s why I want to be judged in court,” he said, explaining the reason for going to court.

[OSEN=가오슝(대만), 이석우 기자] Kiwoom Heroes Park Jun-hyeon 123 2026.02.03 / [email protected]

One of the grounds for recognition as school violence in the administrative review was the remark made to the student, “Yeomisae (a bird who is crazy about women).” Regarding this, Park Jun-hyun also admitted, “I reflected a lot on my inappropriate words and actions. Even when I was investigated, I told the truth about it.” However, he reiterated that other parts were not true. This issue will ultimately be decided in court.

By choosing a legal battle, it will take a long time for Park Jun-hyun’s controversy to be completely resolved. This is not the best scenario for both Park Jun-hyuk and Kiwoom. However, Kiwoom has already begun to worry about Park Jun-hyun’s future.

Manager Seol Jong-jin said, “It is important that problems outside of baseball are resolved,” and while he did not completely exclude Park Jun-hyun from among the five starting pitchers, he said, “It is not easy to do well as a starting pitcher in the first year. I think it would be better to spend the season in the bullpen at first to get used to it and then transition to a starting pitcher in the future.” He then said, “Of course, in the future, Park Jun-hyun should be the starting pitcher. If he can’t be the starting pitcher, it’s actually a problem,” and looked forward to Park Jun-hyun’s growth. /[email protected]

Gil Jun-young ([email protected])