Paichai High School baseball team to appeal ban over Starbucks chant

A Seoul high school baseball team recently banned for trash talking decided to appeal the disciplinary decision on Wednesday.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Paichai High School appealed the six-month suspension handed down by the Korea Baseball Softball Association last week. The school had been given seven days to file the motion, with Wednesday as the deadline. 

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, the top national sports organization, handles appeals against decisions by national sports governing bodies.

Paichai’s team was suspended after some of its players derided their opponents from Gwangju Jeil High School — yelling “Let’s go to Starbucks!” and “Tank day!” — during a game in Seoul in late June.

Their chants were linked to Starbucks Korea’s controversial “Tank Day” promotion on the anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, which drew strong criticism for allegedly mocking the uprising.

The campaign offered discounted “tank” tumbler sets under the slogan “Put it on the table with a ‘Tak!’ sound.”

“Tank” evoked memories of the military crackdown during the movement, and “tak” drew further criticism for its association with student activist Park Jong-cheol, whose death under police torture in 1987 became a symbol of the uprising.

The incident took place during the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship. The ban took effect immediately, with Paichai’s remaining games forfeited.

Unless overturned, the suspension will also keep Paichai out of next month’s Bonghwang High School Baseball Tournament, another major competition. The team’s absence there could be a big blow to Paichai seniors’ chances of being selected in the upcoming KBO draft.

Paichai baseball players and their parents visited Gwangju Jeil in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Monday to apologize in person. Students from both schools visited the May 18th National Cemetery to pay respects to those killed during the pro-democracy movement.

Paichai’s alumni association pleaded for leniency for the baseball team last week, a call echoed by Gwangju Jeil’s faculty and alumni association on Tuesday.

Yonhap