[Anchor]

The Pai Chai High School baseball team has been handed a heavy penalty of a six-month suspension following a major controversy over cheering chants that disparaged a specific region. As a result, the school's game scheduled for today, July 2, has been ruled a forfeit, and the team will be unable to compete in any games for the remainder of the year.

Reporter Jeon Yeongmin has the story.

[Reporter]

[We have to go, we have to go, we have to go to Starbucks.]

[Tank Day.]

The Sports Fair Committee of the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) has decided to suspend the Pai Chai High School baseball team from national competitions for six months. The decision follows the uproar caused by the team's cheering chants during their first-round match against Gwangju Jeil High School, which were seen as mocking the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.

The committee based its decision on the disciplinary standards of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and the KBSA's regulations regarding acts that disrupt order at sporting venues.

[Interview: Lee Jun-seong / KBSA Public Relations Committee Member: We applied the clause regarding interference with the game as the basis for the six-month suspension. However, I understand this conclusion was reached after reviewing not just that specific clause, but various other regulations from the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and the KBSA Sports Fair Committee.]

Consequently, Pai Chai High School's second-round match against Suncheon Hyocheon High School has been ruled a forfeit, preventing the team from playing.

Pai Chai High School manager Kwon O-young attended the hearing to explain the situation before bowing his head with a grim expression.

[Interview: Kwon O-young / Pai Chai High School Manager: I am sorry. I am unconditionally sorry.]

Gwangju Jeil High School manager Cho Yoon-chae expressed his hope that the issue would be resolved so that the students would not be hurt any further.

[Interview: Cho Yoon-chae / Gwangju Jeil High School Manager: While there can sometimes be minor teasing or mocking between students, I have never seen anything like this before. Since they are still students and this has become a major national issue, I hope it is resolved well. They are just kids, after all.]

The Fair Committee plans to conduct further investigations during the suspension period to determine the level of disciplinary action for individual coaches and players.

(Video coverage: Yang Doo-won, Video editing: Lee Seung-jin)