[Edaily Reporter Nam Soyeon ] On the night of August 26, 1990, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul—where a game between the LG Twins and the Haitai Tigers (now the Kia Tigers) was in full swing—suddenly descended into chaos.

Hundreds of excited spectators scaled the fences and stormed the field, sparking a commotion that resembled a brawl. Wooden planks, metal pipes, and debris were hurled from the stands, resulting in a string of injuries throughout the stadium.
Even 36 years later, this incident—known as the “1990 Jamsil Stadium Invasion”—is still regarded as the worst spectator riot in the history of Korean professional baseball.

Jamsil Baseball Stadium descended into chaos as the score widened to 10-0

The game at the time was a highly anticipated showdown that had captured the attention of baseball fans.
The home team, LG, was on a formidable winning streak, while Haitai was the strongest team of the era, having won the Korean Series four years in a row up until the previous year.
Naturally, the rivalry between these two teams drew massive crowds day after day.
On August 26, when the two teams faced off for the last time that year, Jamsil Baseball Stadium was packed to the brim with fans who had begun pouring in hours before the game even started. The official attendance figure alone reached 30,100.
The game remained tight through the fifth inning. However, starting in the sixth inning, LG scored runs in succession, and the momentum shifted dramatically.
Before long, the score was 10–0. Just as a crushing defeat for Haitai seemed inevitable, one or two Haitai fans near third base began climbing over the fence and rushing onto the field, and the number quickly swelled to tens, then hundreds.
LG fans on the opposite side also rushed onto the field. As approximately 500 fans from both teams mingled, Jamsil Baseball Stadium instantly turned into a chaotic scene.
Some fans tore down the outfield billboards, and in one section of the stands, people even started setting fires.
The scene was particularly shocking when media cameras captured a shirtless fan swinging a metal chair at another fan who was lying on the field.
Stadium officials attempted to calm the agitated crowd by displaying the South Korean flag on the scoreboard and playing the national anthem, but these efforts proved insufficient to quell the already heated atmosphere.
The stadium announcer, taking the microphone, repeatedly appealed for restraint, saying, “We are all citizens of the Republic of Korea,” but his words were drowned out by the shouts of the enraged crowd.
The situation was

barely

brought under control

only after police were deployed… 19 arrested, 11 sentenced to prison term

The situation began to settle down only after three companies (approximately 400 officers) of riot police were dispatched.
The game, which had been suspended due to the crowd invasion, was able to resume after about 1 hour and 7 minutes.
The final score was 13–1. Although the game ended in a landslide victory for LG, the result was not the important thing.
By that time, more than a dozen people had already been injured, and some spectators who participated in the violence were arrested by police at the scene.
The aftermath was severe, with even the president stepping in the day after the incident to order strict punishment.
Then-President Roh Tae-woo stated, “Acts of rioting in a stadium, where fair play should prevail, cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” and ordered, “Identify those involved and deal with them strictly in accordance with the law.”
The police formed a special task force of 60 investigators to expand the investigation into the crowd invasion incident.
Following the six individuals taken into custody at the scene at the time of the incident, an additional 13 were arrested, investigated while in custody, and subsequently brought to trial.
In October of that same year, the court handed down suspended prison sentences to 11 individuals deemed to be the ringleaders. It was unusual for such severe sentences to be imposed on spectators who had engaged in a mass disturbance at a stadium.
This incident also led to changes in how baseball stadiums are operated.
To maintain order and ensure systematic management within baseball stadiums, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Secretariat introduced a reserved seating system starting the following year, in 1991.
For baseball fans, it also served as an opportunity to reflect on the cheering culture of that time.
The awareness that while cheering should be passionate, basic order must be maintained inside the stadium gradually spread, and the “Night of Madness” that took place at Jamsil Baseball Stadium 36 years ago has become a scene that is hard to imagine in today’s baseball stadiums.
That incident is being discussed once again as news spreads that Jamsil Baseball Stadium will be demolished at the end of this year.
Once this season ends, Jamsil Baseball Stadium will disappear into history.
The stadium set to replace Jamsil Baseball Stadium will be South Korea’s largest domed baseball stadium, with a capacity of 30,000 seats, and is scheduled to be completed in 2032.