After much soul searching on both sides, the Korea Pro Baseball Players Union and the KBO's member teams have finally reached a compromise to save the 2001 season which the owners had canceled the month before.

Details were not immediately clear, but it is confirmed that all the major issues of contention have been solved. Kim Han Gil of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism arbitrated the negotiations which both sides agreed would be binding. There were four main issues that forced an impasse and on the surface it appears that the KPBPA has won more than it lost.

The most important issue to both sides was that of choosing player representatives to the union.

Owners wanted to do it and the players said they would never allow it. After the negotiations were completed, the players won the right to elect their team leaders for the KPBPA but with some restrictions.

The new representative cannot be the team captain or any of the six former leaders of the KPBPA: Shim Jong Soo (Doosan), Song Jin Woo (Hanwha), Ma Hae Yong (Lotte), Yang Joon Hyuk (LG), Choi Tae Won (SK), and Park Choong Shik (Haitai). Also as part of the agreement, all six players, who had been released, were reinstated on their respective teams in exchange for bowing out of the union's leadership.

Players will be allowed to vote for their own members to represent them in the KPBPA. Office manager, Cha Yong Tae, who was a thorn in the side of the KBO and the rest of management, will be able to keep his job only if the players elect to keep him.

The last major compromise was a clear victory for management. The players agreed not to formally incorporate the KPBPA until there is a base of six million fans per season. Though on the surface this may not look like a major victory, the most the KBO has ever had was 5.4 million in 1994 and attendance has been slipping ever since. It is now under 3.5 million per season.

The other points of contention regarding foreign players and the minimum salary were not mentioned in the second meeting and will either be dropped all together or discussed at a later date. KBO said it is expected that the season will begin on time in early April or will be shortened by one month.