The 2001 baseball season in South Korea has been canceled by the owners of the eight Korean Baseball Organization teams in retaliation for a surge in players' union membership.

A majority of the 209 players currently in the union went to a resort in Kyongi Province for a two-day workshop Tuesday morning and learned about the decision by the owners later in the day.

The move was timed by the owners in an attempt to demoralize the players but is likely to have little effect as the players had already anticipated this happening.

No players could be reached for comment, but when the owners canceled the season last year, the players' union stood firm and in doing so went to the bargaining table stronger.

The decision to pull the plug on the season came right from the top as the chaebol (conglomerate) sponsors of each team said that they would no longer provide funds to operate the teams.

One representative of the unionized players said that if the owners do not change their mind, they will call for a boycott of products made by the teams' sponsors.

"We have over 90 percent of fans behind us as well as the media and many consumer groups. We want to hit the chaebol in their bank accounts. Then they will listen," he said.

A union leader said the following day that he thinks that the chances of the owners actually following through with their plan is only about 10 percent as the chaebols need the teams for publicity and generous tax write-offs.