Kim Ha-sung (28), a star player in Korean baseball who plays for the San Diego Padres in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB), has filed a complaint with the police against him, claiming that he was blackmailed by his junior A, who played with him when they were playing in the Korean pro baseball league. They claim that they had a physical fight over drinks two years ago, and that they are continuously demanding bribes even after they gave him hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of millions of dollars) in settlement money to console his work. However, the A’s side claims that he was unilaterally assaulted by Kim Ha-sung on a regular basis. 토토사이트 추천
According to the baseball community and police on the 7th, Kim Ha-sung filed a complaint with the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul on charges of blackmail and attempted blackmail on the 27th of last month. Kim Ha-sung’s side attended the police and even completed the investigation of the complainant. The incident in question reportedly took place in early 2021, when Kim Ha-sung was about to enter the U.S. Kim Ha-sung played for Kiwoom in the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) league until 2020, and advanced to MLB in 2021. At that time, Kim Ha-sung claimed that Kim Ha-sung and A got into a dispute while drinking at a bar in Gangnam, Seoul, and demanded hundreds of millions of won in settlement, saying that A was assaulted. “I just responded because I didn’t want to do much because it was just before entering the U.S., and it was not a one-sided assault,” Kim Ha-sung said, adding, “The threat continued right after Kim Ha-sung recently received the MLB Gold Glove.”
A joined Nexen (currently Kiwoom) in 2015 and was released two years later without playing in the first division, and it is known that he joined the management company where Kim Ha-sung belonged at the time and served as Kim Ha-sung’s manager. Even after the incident, he said he stayed close to Kim Ha-sung and went to the U.S. together to help him.
“I was regularly assaulted by Kim Ha-sung for no special reason,” A said. “I hit him saying he was in a bad mood or in the drinking atmosphere, and I hit him because I wanted to show off in front of others.” He added, “It is true that I received the settlement money. I made a promise to keep confidentiality while making an agreement, but after learning that Kim Ha-sung was talking about this, I filed a lawsuit for a penalty,” he said. “It is not true that he is threatening blackmail.”
Regarding this, inside and outside the baseball community say, “Hundreds of millions of won is too much money, no matter how much the settlement for unexpected assault,” adding, “It is bitter that what happened between seniors and juniors leads to legal proceedings.”
Kim Ha-sung’s side has not yet responded to A’s claim. He tried to contact Kim Ha-sung’s agency for related inquiries, but he did not respond. However, Kim Ha-sung’s agency said in an official statement that it is difficult to tell the details because the case is currently under investigation, adding, “We will convey a detailed position according to the progress of the investigation.”