By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter

A Lotte Giants fan, known as Park, ran on to the field and threatened SK Wyverns outfielder Park Jae-hong with a toy plastic knife in a Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) match in Busan, Wednesday.

The man, who was wearing a black Giants jumper, came out of the crowd from the first base side at the top of the seventh inning.

He ran to Park with the knife and threw it toward the home plate before waving to the spectators. Security guards then dragged him off the field.

The troublemaker, who was born in 1975, was sent to the Sajik police center. He was said to be a little intoxicated, but clearly alert. The police reported that he would be sent to the summary justice on Thursday.

The incident appears to be related to tensions resulting from a game two weeks ago.

The man wrote ``did you apologize to Il-yeop?'' on the plastic knife, referring to Giants pitcher Kim Il-yeop, who quarreled with Park Jae-hong two weeks ago.

Wyverns manager Kim Sung-keun replaced Park with veteran outfielder Kim Jae-hyun and allowed Park to return to the club's accommodation. The game continued on and the Wyverns won 6-3 on the road.

However, some Giants fans threw water bottles, eggs and glass soju bottles at the Wyverns bus, breaking the coach's windows.

Park, the 35-year-old slugger, had quarreled with Giants runner coach Kong Pil-sung when Giants pitcher Kim Il-yeop threw at his knee in a match between two teams in Incheon in April 23.

Earlier in the match, Lotte captain Cho Sung-hwan was hospitalized after being hit in the face by a pitch from Wyverns pitcher Chei Byung-yong.

``Korean baseball will be downgraded if such a hooligan is not punished strictly,'' a baseball fan An Young-song wrote it on the KBO official Web site, Thursday. ``I will not visit the baseball park until the KBO guarantees security.''

Wyverns general manger Shin Youn-chul reportedly contacted the KBO regarding the skuffle.
``The home club is responsible for the ground security according to the KBO regulations,'' a KBO official said.
``We feel responsible for the incident,'' a Giants official said to The Korea Times, Thursday.
``However, we did our best to keep the Wyverns players safe. We asked the police station to send 240 policemen to the ball park.''

Giants fan Han Jin-wook, who was at the ballpark, expressed his feelings about the farcas.
``I do not think it is good manners to do that because there were many children in the ballpark.''

shosta@koreatimes.co.kr