Any hopes the Pirates harbored regarding Jung Ho Kang’s possible reinstatement from the restricted list took another hit Thursday when a South Korean court upheld a suspended prison sentence stemming from Kang’s December drunken-driving arrest, his third DUI since 2009.
Kang had sought to lower the punishment — an eight-month sentence suspended which Kang would not serve unless arrested for DUI again in the next two years — to a fine in an appeals hearing. The court determined Thursday the suspended prison sentence was “rational.”
In a statement, Pirates president Frank Coonelly said, “it is premature to comment on the impact, if any, it will have on his ability to secure permission to travel to the United States under a work visa. We will continue to work with Jung Ho and his representatives as he works through that process.”
It is not clear whether a lesser punishment alone would have persuaded the United States government to issue Kang a visa, since his lawyers have called the suspended prison term issued in March a potential “death sentence” to his baseball career. It also is unclear why a third DUI has harmed Kang’s case when he was granted visas after his first two DUI convictions.
Kang was arrested Dec. 2 in Seoul, South Korea, after driving a rented BMW into a guardrail around 3 a.m. and fleeing the scene of the crash. Police said Kang’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash would have been 0.08 percent, above the country’s 0.05 percent legal limit.
The Pirates signed Kang to a four-year, $11 million contract in 2015. The club has since said it was unaware of his previous DUIs at the time of his signing. Kang batted .273 with an .838 OPS and 36 home runs in past of two seasons, both shortened by a knee injury suffered in September 2015. The Pirates have turned to David Freese as their everyday third baseman.
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: May 18, 2017, 9:39 a.m.
Updated: May 18, 2017, 7:41 p.m.
