SEOUL– The South Korean baseball club NC Dinos announced Friday they’ve suspended coach Yong Duk-han for 30 days for his involvement in a recent bar fight with another coach.
The Dinos also said Yong has been fined 7 million won (US$5,500).
In the early hours of May 3, Yong accused a fellow coach, Han Kyu-sik, of assaulting him while they were at a bar in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The Dinos had arrived in Daegu on the night of May 2 for a three-game road series against the Samsung Lions.
Han was later taken into police custody, and the Dinos promptly terminated his contract. The Korea Baseball Organization has since suspended him for 100 games, a ban that will take effect if Han signs a contract with another club.
The Dinos took Yong, who was treated for injuries, off the active roster and relieved him of his duties, though the 41-year-old remains on the Dinos’ payroll.
According to the Dinos, the incident between Han and Yong took place around 3:30 a.m. on May 3. Two other NC coaches, whose identities are being withheld by the club, had been with Han and Yong until around 2 a.m. And the Dinos on Friday fined those two unidentified coaches 5 million won each.
Entering Friday’s action, the Dinos were tied for last place with the Hanwha Eagles at 13-28. They fired manager Lee Dong-wook, who’d led the Dinos to their first Korean Series title in 2020, on May 11.
Source: Yonhap News Agency