Seo Jun-won suspended after being indicted for violating child sexual offenses act

Seo Jun-won

The KBO on Tuesday indefinitely suspended Seo Jun-won after the former Lotte Giants pitcher was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offense.

Seo was indicted by the Busan District Prosecutors Office under Article 11 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth, which deals with the production or distribution of child or youth sexual exploitation materials, on March 23.

According to the indictment, Seo is suspected of having persuaded a minor that he met online to take a picture of their body and send it to him in August last year.

He was released by the Giants immediately after the news broke.

The KBO indefinitely suspended Seo Tuesday under Article 152 of the league regulations, which grants the KBO commissioner the right to indefinitely suspend a player until a disciplinary committee can meet. The KBO will call a disciplinary committee meeting once the judicial process has been completed.

Seo is banned from participating in any activities in connection with any KBO club or the league in general, including taking part in training.

The committee that awards the Choi Dong-won Award, Korea’s top pitching prize similar to the Cy Young Award, also announced Monday that it had voted unanimously to strip Seo of the High School Choi Dong-won Award presented to him in 2018 when he was a student at Gyeongnam High School in Busan.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]