Baejae High's May 18th Mockery Controversy Grows

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has launched an investigation into the controversy surrounding baseball players from Paichai High School mocking the May 18th Democratization Movement. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to visit Paichai High School to comprehensively confirm and inspect the circumstances of the incident, whether on-site intervention occurred, the process of coaching the student athletes, and the school's follow-up measures and plans for preventing recurrence.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education emphasized, "Expressions that can be perceived as mocking historical pain or ridiculing a specific region are absolutely not educationally desirable and should not happen on the student sports field." They also offered a deep apology to the Gwangju Jeil High School baseball team, its parents, alumni, and the citizens of Gwangju. Furthermore, they stated that separate from educational measures, personal attacks or excessive criticism against individual students should be guarded against, and that this matter would be handled within the principles and procedures of education.

The controversy began on the 29th during the 81st Blue Dragon Korean High School Baseball Championship, when some students from the Paichai High School baseball team shouted "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go to Starbucks" towards the opposing dugout during their game against Gwangju Jeil High School. This slogan was reminiscent of recent controversy where Starbucks Korea's event slogan was accused of mocking the May 18th Democratization Movement, and it was perceived as ridiculing the movement or disparaging a specific region.

Gwangju Jeil High School strongly protested to the umpires. After the game, Paichai High School posted an apology on its website and announced that the student athletes involved would be referred to the Student Disciplinary Committee and dealt with strictly according to school rules. Additionally, special training on sportsmanship, human rights sensitivity, community spirit, and athlete ethics will be provided to all members of the baseball team.

In relation to this incident, the Paichai Hakdang Alumni Association issued a statement calling for the resignation of the Paichai High School principal. The alumni association argued that this incident should not be dismissed as merely the misbehavior of a few students and that the principal should bear moral and managerial responsibility and resign immediately.