[Exclusive] Exclusive acquisition of 'League suspension board transcript'... President Jung Ji-taek expressed his opinion on suspending the league several times

On July 12, the KBO held an emergency board meeting. It was the board of directors to decide whether to suspend the league in a situation where they were excluded from the first team due to a large number of confirmed cases and close contacts at the NC Dinos and Doosan Bears. After more than two and a half hours of debate, the board decided to 'suspend the league'.

This decision caused a lot of controversy. This is because it was contrary to the provisions of the KBO's Corona 19 Manual, which states, 'Regardless of the number of confirmed cases and self-quarantine (players) in the club, substitute players will be put in to carry out the league schedule normally'. The manual states that the league can be suspended when it is judged that the club operation is impossible, such as insufficient entry registration, or that it has a significant impact on the normal progress of the league. I felt it. Some have also raised suspicions that KBO President Jung Ji-taek Jung, a former vice chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and currently serving as an advisor, may have led the decision to benefit Doosan. Recently, such allegations have been published in articles, and the KBO has even rebutted that 'President Jeong did not exercise his voting rights'. However, it is not known how the board of directors actually made this decision and what role President Chung played in the discussion process.

SBS has obtained some transcripts of this board meeting. This is a transcript of the first half of the meeting where it was decided that 'Doosan and NC will not play as substitute players'. We have identified the following in this transcript:

-Governor Jung Ji-taek expressed his support for the suspension of the league several times from the beginning of the meeting.

- The clubs that objected to the governor's opinion, that is, insisted that the league be carried out, were KIA, Lotte, Hanwha, and SSG.

- The decision to suspend the league was inevitably due to the setting of the agenda. The first item that President Jung proposed to discuss at the board of directors was 'whether to force the match by having substitute players from NC and Doosan appear.' The position of each club was already revealed to some extent through the executive committee, that is, the general manager's meeting the day before. The first proposal proposed by the governor had to be rejected because there were only 4 teams in favor of it.

If the first item on the agenda was 'Should we stop the league?', the result could have been different. There were 6 teams in favor of the suspension of the league and 7 including the governor. 63.6% of those with voting rights. Not 2/3. Article 23 of the KBO Bylaws, 'Method of resolution of the board of directors,' stipulates that 'A decision is made with the attendance of at least two-thirds of the total number of directors and the consent of more than two-thirds of the directors present'. Therefore, there was a high possibility that the suspension of the league would not be made.

In other words, 'Isn't the answer decided by the suspension of the league from the setting of the agenda? suspicion can be raised. In fact, during the interview process, several people who attended the board of directors raised these suspicions.

Governor Jeong Ji-taek has sent the following position to SBS's question. Introducing the specialty.

-Did you express your opposition to the promotion of the league at the board of directors?

"The executive committee, a group of field experts, who were delegated by the respective club's representatives to attend, decided to suspend the league and was about to announce it, but the KBO president decided it was a very serious matter and ordered an emergency board meeting, and decided to review There was no expression of intention to suspend the league, however, as for whether the match between NC and Doosan would be played, the executive committee, an expert group, decided that it would be difficult to play a normal game at 9:1, so as the chairman, it would be difficult Although they had expressed their opinions, the directors had different opinions, so whether NC and Doosan should proceed with the game was put on the agenda, and after a long discussion, the decision was rejected with 4 in favor and 6 in opposition. As a result, all 144 games were played, and the resolution was unanimous, 8:2, respectively. As the chairman of the board of directors, he emphasized that this issue is a separate decision from the suspension of the entire league. Also, the board of directors did not express the opinion of the governor after that. Unlike the committee, since the directors had different opinions, an in-depth deliberation was conducted, and 4 directors agreed to proceed with the league normal, and the decision was rejected. Eight people voted for the suspension of the league."

"I have never persuaded the directors who insisted on the league go ahead. On the contrary, I have double-checked that the directors who insisted on suspending the league have no intention of overturning. He also clearly expressed his intention that "I do not want to judge the success or failure of the team."

"The board has never argued anything that would benefit the club. The executive committee had already decided to suspend the league, and the review was conducted again.

This was rather the opposite of the position of a particular club. The board of directors considering the entire league situation proceeded."

To help our readers understand and avoid misunderstandings, we disclose key parts of the transcript.

In order to protect the informant and to avoid unnecessary controversy, we ask for your understanding that the excerpt is uploaded without any parts that are not related to the topic.

▶ ​7.12 KBO emergency board transcript excerpt