Scandal-hit hurlers banned half a season

Oh Seung-hwan

By Baek Byung-yeul

Baseball players Oh Seung-hwan, 33, and Lim Chang-yong, 39, who have been charged with gambling overseas, have been suspended for half a season, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Friday.

The decision was made at a committee meeting to determine punishment for Oh and Lim held by the KBO, the governing body of the country’s top baseball league. The KBO decided that they are banned from playing, including from the KBO and Futures League (the KBO’s equivalent of a minor league), for half a season.

The two baseball players are suspected of gambling 40 million won ($33,480) in Macau in November 2014. It is a crime for Koreans to gamble in any overseas casino.

Last month, prosecutors asked a local court for a summary indictment against them on charges of overseas gambling and sought 7 million won ($5,859) each in fines.

While being investigated, Lim was released from his KBO club, the Samsung Lions, in November.

Oh, Lim’s ex-teammate on the Lions, became a free agent after playing for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization and is now seeking a team in Major League Baseball.

While the two do not belong to any KBO team, the KBO said they still decided to slap sanctions on them due to the possibility that they may return to the league, adding that the penalty is only effective if they play for the KBO.