By Jung Min-ho

NC Dinos’s bid to become a first-division member of Korea Professional Baseball (KPB) next year was denied Tuesday, leaving the case pending until the next board of directors’ meeting.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held a meeting to reach a consensus over issues such as deciding on a host city for the Asia Series and creating a 10-team KPB. One of the hot-button agendas was whether the NC Dinos should be permitted to join the first division of the Korean baseball league as of 2013.

A total of nine on the board of director’s were split on the matter, disagreeing on the timing and details.

“Thorough research should be conducted to expand the number of the teams. However, the decision about making a new team was made in a hurry at the last board of directors’ meeting,” said Jang Byeong-su, president of Lotte Giants. “Many factors should be reviewed such as stadium locations and timing before the final decision.”

“Some negative effects of having nine teams were already factored in. I don’t understand why the issue turned out this way,” said Shin Young-chul, president of SK Wyverns.

The issue concerning creating a 10th team in the league was also not resolved at the meeting.

The writer is an intern for The Korea Times.