New baseball chief vows to dedicate self to 'fair' sport

By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- The new head of South Korea's top professional baseball league said Monday he will work to ensure "fair" competition in the nation's most popular sport.
Taking office as the 12th commissioner of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Koo Bon-neung, chairman of the local metal conglomerate Heesung Group, said he will bring his "passion and love for baseball" to his position.
"I hesitated when I was first offered the job," Koo said at the inauguration ceremony. "Now I feel a heavy sense of responsibility to open the new future for professional baseball in Korea, and I will try my best to build a fair baseball league through transparent management."
Koo, 62, was nominated at a board meeting of KBO general managers on Aug. 2. He won final approval from the owners of all eight teams.
He is a younger brother of LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo and an elder brother of Koo Bon-joon, vice chairman of LG Electronics and former owner of the LG Twins club in the KBO. Koo Bon-neung himself has served as a consultant for the Seoul-based Twins.
The new commissioner said improving ballparks across the country and broadening the game's market will also be important tasks on his watch.
Koo will replace You Young-koo, who resigned in May after being arrested on corruption charges. He will serve until the end of this year, when You's term was set to expire, and is widely expected to be nominated again for a new three-year term.
Since You's resignation, the KBO had been run by an interim commissioner, Lee Yong-il. Team presidents had sought to nominate one of the eight owners. They reached out to Koo after all the club owners turned down the offer.
All KBO clubs are owned and operated by private companies, including major conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, SK and Doosan.
Koo is only the third commissioner without a political background in the KBO's 29-year history. Known as a baseball fan, Koo played organized baseball into his mid-teens and once published a pictorial book of rare black-and-white baseball photos he had collected.
The KBO has enjoyed unprecedented success in recent years, buoyed by South Korea's success at the Olympics, the Asian Games and the World Baseball Classic. The league is poised to break its all-time single-season attendance record for the third straight year.


jeeho@yna.co.kr