Six pro baseball players ousted

The standoff between pro baseball team owners and players seeking to form a labor union escalated Wednesday as the head of the Korean baseball league virtually blacklisted six players.

Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) commissioner Park Yong-oh Wednesday approved applications by six teams for public notification that the representatives on their teams of the controversial Pro Baseball Players¡¯ Consultative Council (PBPCC), a sort of labor union, would given the status of free agents.

The players are Hanwha¡¯s Song Jin-Woo, LG¡¯s Yang Jun-Hyuk, Lotte¡¯s Ma Hae-Young, Doosan¡¯s Shim Jeong-Soo, Haitai¡¯s Park Chung-Shik and SK¡¯s Choi Tae-Won.

Players with 10 years in the league become free agents, which gives them the right to move to any team, including overseas teams. But the case of the PBPCC members is quite different.

The presidents of the six teams held secret meetings on Dec. 18, time with the players¡¯consultative council¡¯s general session, and decided on Dec. 19 to counter the players¡¯ move with the retaliatory expulsion of the players. This means no team in Korea will recruit them.

They cited as the main reason for their decision to release the players the fact that an extremely small number of players approved the formation of a union at the KBO.

They said the players disgraced the dignity of Korean pro baseball and hampered its development. It was for this reason, they said, that they listed the players as free agents according to Article 29 of the contract with players.

Lawyer Lee Do-Hyung of the Lawyers¡¯ Society for Democratic Society, an advisor to the players¡¯council, said he would seek countermeasures against the unilateral release of the players through discussion with the council members.

The battle between owners and players is expected to end up in court.

Zang Hwan-Soo zangpabo@donga.com