Hanwha Eagles CEO faces charges for converting accessible seating to premium seats
Published: 02 Oct. 2025, 16:38
![Hanwha Eagles CEO Park Jong-tae gives a welcoming remark to visitors at the Hanwha Life Ballpark on March 28. [HANWHA EAGLES]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/10/02/bd92ff64-0636-4c95-bf69-b2fd89333480.jpg)
Hanwha Eagles CEO Park Jong-tae gives a welcoming remark to visitors at the Hanwha Life Ballpark on March 28. [HANWHA EAGLES]
The CEO of KBO team Hanwha Eagles, Park Jong-tae, will be referred to prosecutors without detention for allegedly converting seating designated for people with disabilities into premium seats to gain illicit profits.
The anticorruption investigation unit of the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency said Thursday that it will refer Park and the club to prosecutors on charges of violating the Act on the Guarantee of Convenience Promotion of Persons With Disabilities, Senior Citizens, Pregnant Women and Nursing Mothers.
The Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, newly opened this year, had its second-floor wheelchair seating area covered with artificial turf beginning in April. The club installed portable premium seats in the area and continued selling them despite an administrative correction order issued by the Daejeon city government.
The police investigation found that the club continued to operate the premium seating section beyond the deadline of July 2, the date by which the city had ordered the correction to be implemented. Local disability advocacy groups filed a complaint, saying the move infringed on the viewing rights of people with disabilities and generated more than 200 million won ($143,000) in profits by selling seats worth 8,000 won as 50,000 won premium tickets.
While police concluded that the installation and operation of the premium seats constituted a clear violation of the law, they found the actions did not amount to embezzlement, breach of trust or fraud. “It is difficult to say that spectators were deceived, as the original seats were neither removed nor altered — only portable seats were added for sale,” a police official said.
The incident drew widespread criticism from the local community over the club’s lack of ethics. The Hanwha Eagles only issued an official apology after the disability groups filed their complaint.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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