Lee Young-jin, chairperson of the Korea Sport \& Olympic Committee's subcommittee on sports fairness, speaks at Olympic Hall in Seoul's Songpa District, Monday, during a hearing reviewing the six-month suspension imposed on Paichai High School's baseball team from a national tournament. Yonhap

A Seoul high school baseball team that was banned from national tournaments for six months over chants mocking the 1980 Gwangju Uprising has had its suspension reduced to one month, clearing it to compete in an upcoming national tournament.

The Korea Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) said Monday it had reduced the ban on Paichai High School's baseball team after its subcommittee on sports fairness reviewed the disciplinary action stemming from the players’ chants disparaging the pro-democracy movement during a national tournament game.

The committee acknowledged that the chants constituted grounds for discipline — ruling that inappropriate chanting from the dugout amounted to interference with the game — but cited the players' subsequent visit to Gwangju to seek forgiveness and Gwangju Jeil High School's own appeal for leniency, as grounds for the reduction.

Monday’s ruling by the KSOC, the country’s top sports governing body, takes effect immediately, clearing Paichai High School to compete in the upcoming Bonghwangdaegi National High School Baseball Tournament. The tournament opens on Aug. 6 and is effectively the team's last opportunity to compete in a national tournament this year.

The decision drew particular attention because participation in the tournament could influence the college admissions and professional baseball prospects of the team's senior players.

Members of Seoul's Paichai High School baseball team bow in apology during a visit to Gwangju Jeil High School in Gwangju, July 6, after chanting slogans disparaging the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising during a national baseball tournament last month. Korea Times photo by Kang Ye-jin

The suspension was originally imposed on July 1 by the Korea Baseball Softball Association following an incident during the Cheongnonggi National High School Baseball Championship on June 29, when multiple Paichai players repeatedly chanted "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks" and "Tank Day" during a first-round game against Gwangju Jeil High School. The team was also ordered to forfeit its remaining games in the championship.

The chants during the June 29 game drew backlash for referencing a recent marketing campaign by Starbucks Korea that had already faced widespread criticism for trivializing the Gwangju Uprising.

The campaign featuring the phrase "Tank Day" began on May 18, the 46th anniversary of the uprising, during which military forces, including paratroopers and tanks, were deployed to suppress citizens, killing hundreds.

Paichai High School players, accompanied by the school headmaster, coaches, teachers and parents, visited Gwangju Jeil High School on July 6 and formally apologized to their peers. The Gwangju school subsequently requested leniency on the team's behalf, prompting Paichai to ask the KSOC on July 8 to reconsider the original ban.