Former KIA Tigers Coach Kim Jong-Kook Escaped Arrest

Why was he paid a large sum?

Former KIA Tigers coach Kim Jong-kook escaped arrest. Prosecutors filed arrest warrants for Kim Jong-kook and Jang Jung-seok on charges of negligence. It was an accusation of negligence. They say that a coffee company that sponsored the club's advertisement asked the two to advertise and handed over hundreds of millions of dollars in back in return.

Former head coach Kim attended the warrant hearing on the 30th and underwent a hearing for two hours. He then moved to the Seoul Detention Center and waited for the results of the hearing. The results came out after 10 p.m. Yoo Chang-hoon, a judge at the Central District Court who conducted the hearing, dismissed the prosecution's claim, saying there was no need for arrest.

Judge Yoo Chang-hoon said, "In light of the actual status of advertisement sponsorship for the club before the time of receiving the money, the details of advertisement sponsorship by the sponsor company, the timing of the advertisement sponsorship, and the involvement of the suspect in the statements of those involved, it is necessary to guarantee the right to defend against whether the money received is in return for illegal solicitation." He saw that there was room for dispute over the key issue, namely the allegation of breach of trust.

Judge Yoo then explained the reason for the dismissal, saying, "It is difficult to admit the reason and necessity of arrest because it is difficult to say that there is a risk of destroying evidence or fleeing, given that much of the data related to the allegations have been secured, the interrogation attitude of the suspects who feel responsible for causing the scandal, and the careers of the suspects."
The coffee company's sponsorship advertisement contract process and details contain a clue to the incident. The coffee company operates several large stores in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi Province, and has been advertising sponsored by Kia since 2022. Starting with adverts for players' uniforms, the company has expanded ads for outfield walls and backstop billboards, and the advertisement amount to 1 billion won approx. It is a considerable amount of money among ads sponsored by professional teams. In fact, it was the largest amount ever sponsored by an outside company by a Kia team, excluding one of its parent group affiliates.

Kim, who was close to the owner of a coffee company, is known to have connected the team to advertise its sponsorship. The team could not afford one year's financial support from ticket sales, broadcasting ticket sales and product sales, and has been eking out a living with support from its parent company Kia Motors. At the same time, the team is making efforts to sell advertisements on its own to increase profits, but it was suffering a slump due to economic conditions. The dog advertisements were also empty. It was good news for the team, which was struggling to sell advertisements.

They say that it would be embarrassing to see such a structure as the company even mobilized solicitations for sponsorship advertisements. Then, why did Kim receive the money worth billions of dollars? Kim once explained to his club that he received the money as a incentive. He was told by the owner of a coffee company to use it as encouragement money for coaches and players. The owner of the coffee company is from North Jeolla Province and is known as a big fan of Tigers.

He has frequently visited baseball stadiums not only for home games in Gwangju but also for away games in the Seoul metropolitan area and supported his team in various ways. He set up a home run zone on the left and right walls of the Champions Field to award 2 million won 2,000 U.S. dollars in prize money to a batter. Three MVP winners were selected each week, including the pitcher award, the batter award and the defense award, and awarded 1 million won 1,000 dollars to each player. When playing in the metropolitan area, players have been provided coffee and bakery products.

When the team failed to pass the postseason last year, the team gave 14,000 boxes of drip coffee and 8,000 caramel to the fans who came to the final two home games of this season. After the season, 1,000 fans who participated in the fanfest event "Tiger Hanmadang" were each given a coffee set worth 100,000 won approx. According to the team, employees of both its suppliers and employees presented a coffee set worth 200,000 won approx. In total, it was over 200 million won approx. All of them were reportedly purchased at their own expense.

Considering a series of sponsorship processes for the club and its squad, this can also be interpreted as meaning of "encouragement money," which Kim claims. However, no amount of incentives can be accepted by ordinary people. Kim did not even inform the club that he received the money. Even if he actually used it, it is unclear. This is why the prosecution is looking into the case as the price of improper solicitation. Although the arrest warrant was rejected, it seems that the court will have to seek legal judgment for prosecution and trial in the future.   메이저 토토사이트