The South Korean government announced it would "encourage athlete representation in domestic professional sports as part of its efforts to develop the national sports industry," according to the KOREA HERALD. South Korea said that "despite continuous growth of the sports industry, the absence of proper athlete representation has hindered the development of management, marketing and public relations within the industry." It cited the example of the Korea Baseball Organization, "which operates the nation's top pro baseball league." Currently, a KBO player "must directly deal with his club in contract negotiations, and no other representative is permitted to sign a contract for the player." The KBO agreed in '01 to "allow players to have representation but hasn't put the rule into effect." The sports ministry will "also prepare guidelines on requirements for agents and standard representation agreements." In addition, it will "establish a training program to develop sports agents." The KBO has been "wary of the negative impact that it fears agents could have on its clubs, most of which bleed red in the books each season." A KBO official said, "Agents will certainly drive up players' salaries, and it will make things even more difficult for the clubs financially" (KOREA HERALD, 2/17).
