"Mockery of 5.18 Cannot Be Tolerated"... Kim Daejung Expresses Regret to Paichai High School Baseball Team

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Kim Daejung, Governor-elect of the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan Office of Education, has expressed deep regret over the recent controversy surrounding students from Paichai High School in Seoul engaging in "regional disparagement" cheers during a national high school baseball tournament. He strongly emphasized the need for proper history education.

On the 30th, Kim released a statement titled "Disparaging Specific Regions Cannot Be Tolerated... Joint Efforts Needed to Strengthen Historical Awareness in Education," expressing his views on the matter.

Kim Daejung, Governor-elect of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Unified Metropolitan Office of Education.

On the 29th, students from Paichai High School in Seoul engaged in inappropriate cheering that evoked regional discrimination against students from Gwangju Jeil High School during a match at the national high school baseball tournament.

Notably, even though the match was being broadcast live online, the students made remarks and gestures that appeared to mock and trivialize the historical pain of the Gwangju 5·18 Democratization Movement.

Kim stated, "This incident occurred just over 50 days after the national outrage sparked by Starbucks Korea's 'Tank' marketing in May," adding, "I am devastated and deeply saddened beyond words." He also conveyed his consolation to the students who may have been hurt by the incident.

He viewed this issue not simply as a matter of cheering culture but as a serious educational concern. Kim emphasized, "Sports activities are as important as academics for growing children and serve as an educational platform for experiencing a culture of mutual respect. Mocking the 5·18 Democratization Movement is absolutely unacceptable, and what is even more serious is that the coaching staff stood by and did nothing."

He also called for concrete efforts to prevent such incidents from recurring. Kim urged all coaches across sports disciplines to actively guide their teams to ensure that no remarks inciting regional disparagement, ridicule, or hatred occur.

Furthermore, he announced plans to expand history education for all interested parties, including schools, student athletes, and parents, using this incident as a lesson.

He concluded by stating, "Ensuring that our children, who will lead the future of Korea, grow up properly is not just the responsibility of the education sector, but requires the interest of the entire nation." As the inaugural governor of the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan Office of Education, he pledged to further strengthen history and character education so that children can walk the right path and grow as democratic citizens.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.