KBO Suspends 3 Umpires Amid 'Controversy Over Concealing Wrong Calls'

"Strict Disciplinary Procedures Will Be Conducted"

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has decided to suspend three professional baseball umpires accused of deliberately concealing a wrong call from their duties and refer them to the personnel committee.

On the 15th, the KBO announced, "We are suspending umpire team leader Lee Min-ho, home plate umpire Moon Seung-hoon, and third base umpire Chu Pyung-ho from the '2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' NC-Samsung game effective immediately," adding, "They will be referred to the personnel committee according to procedure."

The controversy arose during the game between the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions held on the 14th at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. The umpires missed that the ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike System) had called a 'strike' while NC was leading 1-0, instead ruling it a 'ball.'

On the 14th, the umpires discussing during the game between NC Dinos and Samsung Lions.
[Image source: SBS Sports broadcast screen capture]

Later, during discussions over NC's objection to the call, a conversation among the three umpires was caught on the broadcast, where they said, "Say the audio was recognized as a ball. This is the only way we can get out of this. The audio is a ball," which became a problem.

The KBO stated, "We consider this matter very serious and will proceed with disciplinary procedures strictly."