K Shopping Sponsors 'Baseball Dream Kids' with kt wiz for 4 Consecutive Years

This Year, a Total of 8.5 Million Won Raised as 'Love Donations'

KTH announced on the 25th that it donated the 'Love Sponsorship Fund' raised according to the season performance of kt wiz baseball players to youth baseball teams. This year, kt wiz players Kang Baek-ho (right) and So Hyeong-jun, who participated in raising the 'Love Sponsorship Fund,' are taking a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] KTH, which operates K Shopping, and kt wiz announced on the 25th that they will sponsor youth baseball teams for the fourth consecutive year by raising “Love Sponsorship Funds” based on player Kang Baek-ho’s home runs and player So Hyeong-jun’s wins this season, together with the KT Group Hope Sharing Foundation.

This year’s “Love Sponsorship Funds” were raised by allocating 200,000 KRW per home run by Kang Baek-ho and 300,000 KRW per win by So Hyeong-jun, totaling 8.5 million KRW. The entire sponsorship fund will be used through the KT Group Hope Sharing Foundation to purchase baseball equipment and support baseball-related activities for the “Best One Baseball Team,” which has been continuously sponsored since 2017, and the “Mentori Baseball Team,” which has been supported since 2018.

This year, kt wiz advanced to the postseason for the first time since its founding, achieving its best-ever record by finishing in second place. The rookie duo of kt wiz, Kang Baek-ho and So Hyeong-jun, who participate in supporting youth baseball hopefuls, also showed remarkable performances. Kang Baek-ho, who set the rookie high school graduate record for most home runs (29) in 2018 and won Rookie of the Year, hit 23 home runs in the 2020 season. So Hyeong-jun, a 19-year-old rookie pitcher likely to win Rookie of the Year this year, recorded 13 wins.

Kang Baek-ho said, “I was able to achieve good results this season by doing my best with the heart of supporting the dreams of youth baseball teams and repaying the passionate cheers of the children.” So Hyeong-jun stated, “Just as I grew my dreams watching senior baseball players when I was young, I will continue to do my best to be remembered as a great senior by the students of the Best One Baseball Team and Mentori Baseball Team.”

Mentori Baseball Team student Lee Joo-hyun said, “I was disappointed that I couldn’t do many activities like baseball practice this year due to COVID-19, but I was very happy that kt wiz, whom I cheered for hard, made it to the fall baseball and showed great games.”

Meanwhile, since 2017, KTH has been sponsoring youth baseball teams for four years based on a social contribution agreement with kt wiz, including the “Best One Baseball Team,” which includes children with disabilities, and the “Mentori Baseball Team,” composed of children from multicultural and North Korean defector backgrounds and other underprivileged groups. Since 2018, KTH has also been practicing social responsibility by continuously providing economic and emotional support to children and youth in group homes in the Seoul area.