Professional baseball players under fire for violating quarantine rules

From left, Park Sok-min, Kwon Hui-dong, Lee Myung-ki and Park Min-woo of NC Dinos, who invited women to their rooms at a Seoul hotel where they were lodging during July 5-7. The women tested positive for COVID-19 and ended up infecting the sluggers. Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

Several Korean professional baseball players are under fire for causing this summer's season to grind to an abrupt halt by testing positive for COVID-19 after violating quarantine rules.

Three NC Dinos players tested positive after inviting women back to their rooms for "drinks" at a Seoul hotel where they stayed from July 5 to 7 for an away game against a rival team. Making matters worse, the athletes lied to health officials about their activities.

The NC Dinos players who tested positive were Park Sok-min, Lee Myung-ki and Kwon Hui-dong. The two women tested positive later and informed the unwitting baseball players.

Park Min-woo, another Dinos player who was among the group and had already been vaccinated, did not contract the virus, according to local media reports.

A series of infection cases were confirmed on July 8 to have originated from the hotel. The infections also included two players from the Doosan Bears which played against the NC Dinos on July 6 and 7. An administrative official for the NC Dinos was also confirmed to have been infected after the results came out on Wednesday.

After the infections broke out, the three infected NC Dinos players were contacted by officials from Gangnam District Office for virus tracing. But the players did not mention bringing the women back to their hotel rooms and provided false information about their whereabouts. The women, when contacted by the officials, also lied about their activities.

Gangnam District Office found about the deceptive accounts given by the players and the women and filed a complaint with police for violating the disease control law. The office said it did not take the same action against Park Min-woo because he was not infected.

The day the officials filed the complaint, NC Dinos' president Hwang Soon-hyun released a written apology. In the statement, the club admitted that the four players had "a private meeting with outsiders." The team also said it "failed to manage the players properly."

Park Sok-min issued an apology. He said the women the players met were their fans.

Park Min-woo, also issued a statement on Wednesday admitting that his misconduct shamed his club and the entire league. The 28-year-old athlete, who had been selected for the country's national team for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, announced his decision to quit the squad.

According to local reports, he had been given special preference by health officials to get vaccinated because of his Olympic schedule, while most other Koreans his age have to wait until later this year to receive their shots.

The Korea Baseball Organization said it will temporarily halt all games by all 10 clubs scheduled for July 13-18 due to rising cases of COVID-19 infections.

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