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. The 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 tour