[Anchor]
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has launched an investigation into the baseball team at Paichai High School. It has been confirmed that the office has received written statements from 35 members of the team. The students reportedly stated that they were not fully aware of the controversy surrounding Starbucks and followed along impulsively after one student started the chant.
Jo Yoon-ha reports.
[Reporter]
The investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education began this morning.
An investigator visited Paichai High School and interviewed six individuals, including the vice principal, the head of the physical education department, the baseball team manager, and the head coach. The office also received written statements from 35 of the 36 baseball team members, excluding one who was absent.
[Paichai High School Official: I understand that (the Office of Education) heard from the students. Other than that, we have nothing to say.]
It has been confirmed that the school explained, "The baseball team members followed along impulsively after one student shouted a modified cheer, 'Let's go to Starbucks.'" The school added that the student who initiated the chant had no particular ill intent.
The explanation is that one of the team members modified the usual cheer, "Let's go, let's go, hit a base hit and let's go," during the top of the 8th inning, and the other members followed along without fully understanding the controversy surrounding Starbucks.
[Let's go, let's go. Let's go to Starbucks~]
Previously, Starbucks issued a public apology after engaging in inappropriate marketing that was associated with the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the late activist Park Jong-cheol.
Funeral wreaths were placed in front of Paichai High School, and it is reported that the school is considering having the baseball team members and their manager visit Gwangju Jeil High School to offer an apology.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to determine the level of disciplinary recommendations for school officials after investigating whether the inappropriate chant was stopped on-site and how the baseball team was supervised.
The Office of Education also announced that it will strengthen education on historical awareness and the eradication of hate and discriminatory expressions in stadiums for all schools in Seoul that operate athletic teams.
(Video reporting: Park Hyun-chul, Video editing: Choi Hye-ran)
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