Why am I reminded of Byun Sangil… 
I was a judge in the last European Go Congress. I had a game between two young kids, one German and one Ukrainian iirc. Neither spoke English. In a clearly lost position one kid starts repeating a word and stops playing. The parent (of the other kid) called me; clearly the kid was resigning but he wasn’t stopping the clock or playing two stones or any clear signal, only saying “I resign” in his language which no one else there could understand. Fortunately someone a few tables away translated for us and his parents came soon after.
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We did make them very specific this is the new statements
雙方確認終局的次序是：先由輪到著手一方以簡潔的語言表明"棋局結束"，"棋已下完"對方予以回應，終局即告成立
Basically, this means resignations have to be done during a move in the clear verbal, such as “game has ended” or “game is finished”, and get a response (both agreed), and the end of the game will be reached. The requirements for the judges/witnesses are still there to ensure the “both agreed” part. We basically extend the regulation about the end of the game for the normal end, to cover the resignation. Hence, in practice, both sides had to wait for the result since they don’t need to count, or varify the death stones.
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The Chinese Weiqi Association (CWA) finally made their announcement late in the night.
1月22日，第29屆LG杯世界圍棋棋王戰決賽第二局在南韓首爾結束，1比0領先的柯潔九段因兩次提子未放置在棋盒蓋上，被球證根據南韓圍棋規則判負。決勝局將於1月23日進行。
南韓棋院自2024年11月8日起實施新版《南韓圍棋規則》，規定提子如不放置在棋盒蓋上，將警告一次罰2目，警告兩次將判負，此項規定適用於南韓棋院主辦的各項比賽。在中國棋手參加三星杯、LG杯決賽前，南韓棋院將新規則告知中國代表團，中國隊每次均在賽前組織學習、提醒參賽運動員，但仍然發生了柯潔1月22日在第29屆LG杯決賽第二局因兩次被警告判負的事件。對此，中國圍棋代表團當場向南韓方面提出申訴，就規則中未明確放置時間等問題提出異議，並認為判罰過重，「過」「罰」不相匹配。中國圍棋協會領導第一時間也與南韓棋院負責人進行了長時間溝通，最後南韓棋院球證委員會經研究，維持本局按既有規則判罰，未來將慎重考慮中方訴求。
在中國圍棋協會對本次賽事的影片直播中，有工作人員未經許可，擅自使用中國圍棋協會帳號發表個人主觀評論。中國圍棋協會將嚴肅對待，加強內部人員管理，持續規範協會各平台賬戶。同時強化細化參賽、備戰工作，確保在國際交流中掌握主動，爭取先機。
第二局比賽結束後，協會立即致電在南韓參賽的中國隊，希望柯潔放下包袱，在明天的決勝局中摒除不利影響，努力拚搏，發揮出應有的水平。
In short, they said they’ve tried to communicate with the KBA about the penalty and the violation judgment was too harsh and not fitting as a punishment (「過」「罰」不相匹配), but the KBA committee of referees maintained their ruling of this game, and “considered” the request from the Chinese side. (I don’t think it mentioned anything about the Chinese side agreeing on this decision). Even specifically stated that there is a worker in the CWA who used the official account to make comments that didn’t represent the opinion of the CWA (there was a screen capture of the official account making one-line comment said, “The rules are the rules, they weren’t made today”). Their final statement is that they informed their team in Korea and wish Ke Jie to play his best for the next match and not be affected by factors like this. (CWA is basically saying good luck to you Ke Jie, we tried, … )
BTW, CWA also mentioned one thing about the vagueness of the regulations they were told, and in this instant, doesn’t specify the details like “when at which point in time the captives stones need to be placed in the lid” (規則中未明確放置時間等問題, so I suppose they did want to treat it like a technicality issue).
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So maybe a language barrier was at play where the Chinese translation of the rules was less clear here than the Korean?
This is a very interesting question, this is the only news I found that has a screen capture of a translated rules (not sure who translate it, and the sources though might have been from other pros, but the translation looks legit, and not automatic).
And by the looks of it, the phrasing is pretty simple 放在棋盒蓋上保管 “put (dead stones) on the lid to keep”, and doesn’t specific the timing or duration (sort of implied “safe keeping” not exactly the same though). It does not said anything if they need to be seen by the opponent or else which actually defeat the purpose of people pointing out this rule is for helping the opponent to count, and looks like only for final scoring in keeping captives.
The same can be said the same in the original Korean rules as equally vague. The ruling didn’t seem to fit the spirit of this rule.
There is also another rules right above the “keep the dead stones on the lid”. It basically said, “touch the dead stones, or return the dead stone to the opponent” which can be given 2 penality without warning. And this is going to be a very easily triggered rule if applied “strictly” (if combined with the keep in the lid this basically mean if you place it on the table and than picked it up to put it in the lid, would count two warnings and immediately lost). If we saw any of the vague rules got triggered in the next match, I don’t think KBA will be able to justify their ruling for these rules anymore (and sadly I don’t think we can rule it out that they won’t be used)
I’ve finish reading the last “news” from LG cup official website (this is the 3rd one in hours, and unpresendent), after the CWA made their announcement. And it is not an “announcement”, but more like repost of many newsreports. And listed all the possible vague use of the rules, and quoting everyone on the Internet basically about the ruling not fitting the spirit, etc. etc. I got a sense that the LG host wasn’t too happy about the KBA referee committee rulings, and they certainly has a say in what would happen in the next match. And they certainly would feel the impact of this event (good or bad) for their sponsorship. Hopefully this can lead us to a “normal game” at least.
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Probably they will release another one soon… Let us know once it is released lol
Yesterday they moved lightning-fast and in rapid posts, I suspect today, it will take quite a while.
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It may impact their entire business in China… Very important lol
They had a very immediate problem at hand. Who is the second place?
There is a big difference for Ke Jie to forfeit this game and withdraw from the tournament. If it is a forfeit, Ke Jie just lost this game and is still the second place, but if the whole Chinese team withdraws from the tournament, there will be no second place. Do they need to host another 2nd and 3rd place for the current losers in the semi-final? Do they just declare there is no second place? Do they just completely remove all the Chinese team’s places and prizes all together? (the team withdraws and Ke Jie personally withdraws would also has impact).
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I think even if Ke Jie is the 2nd place maybe he won’t accept the prize money, because accepting the prize money means he’s accepting the result.
So yeah, that’s a difficult problem… Maybe the sponsor will also have a say in this.
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So, the LG Cup would likely need some time to evaluate and likely communicate with the Chinese team, at least Ke Jie personally, otherwise, it would cause an even bigger incident. And right now I don’t think Ke Jie is in the mood to negotiate anything.
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It seems like Ke Jie was mostly protesting against the timing when the judges paused the game and not against the penalty itself.
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LG’s statement:
http://baduk.lg.co.kr/kor/news_view.asp?gdiv=0&gul_no=531406
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I finished reading the LG statement, and it’s sort of interesting. It referred a lot to the referees’ judge and even stated that Ke Jie placed the dead stones on the table during the fight (very specific at which locations these stones were relative to the goban and the clock to the last details), and then pick them up himself into the lid at which move. And then describe the referee who came in to intervene.
It also uses the word from the referee claiming that they did “act” immediately following the rule to the teeth (they are not even shy on that they follow the rule literally instead of based on intention). But they also claim that the process by the referee took a while, and they absolutely have no bias for Byun Sangil. (that paragraph is quite cringe to read). They also describe Ke Jie objected to the ruling
Then they described Ke Jie’s rejection of the timing of the intervention, and in a separate paragraph describing Jie did not protest the warning itself, and express the opinion not to continue the game (no telling when this happened). And they also claimed that Ke Jie didn’t bring up the rematch (the exact words are that the referee didn’t hear the words coming out of his mouth, but overheard other people between Korean and Chinese teams discussing it).
It also conveys that a “Baduk Rules and Game Regulations Revision Committee” will have an emergency session tomorrow (1/24) morning at 10 am to address the issue.
And interestingly, they also put a separate section about the game results followed by the prize money amount of the winner and the second place, right below the picture of Ke Jie leaving the building. (which I believe is definitely intentional, it already stated the winners and result in the very first paragraph, but put this in the middle of the picture).
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A hot take on the very technicality of the ruling and the report, the referee absolutely knows and is able to track and know exactly how many captured stones at which point in time in which place. So the reason they said they devised the rule to help players track the stones and prevent confusion is totally nonsense. They absolutely can do something about it, but choose to use technicality and literal ruling by choice and intervention at the time of their choosing. The referees admitted themselves and did not even shy away from it in their announcement.
Really curious as to what would be the emergency meeting tomorrow morning will come up with.
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I don’t know the details, but if you’re a professional in a mind game and get paid huge amounts of money to be good at attention stuff, maybe paying attention to the rules isn’t a huge side requirement? If they weren’t open about the rule, that’s a different matter of course.
Also, I think we hobbyists see it a bit naively, for them it’s their “company’s” profit or loss. This is more business than Go, imho.
I replied a bit early about my hot take before your reply. It’s really an accident and not “intentional” 
But seriously this is less about rules or following the rules, but really about the referees having the power to use the rules as they see fit (despite the original intention or prospect of these rules). And not just referees who can abuse it, the players themselves can potentially abuse it (by raising their hand during the game like Byun Sangil did), and if they had malintent there is no punishment for the false claim (if you want more time, raise your hand, and get more time thinking when referees would take minutes if not more to come in and pause it for you). The rule above the lid rule is the rule about touching the dead stones or giving the dead stones to the opponents, so players can absolutely abuse it easier than the lid rule. (hey my opponent is touching the stones and about to give it to me, help! raise hand)
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I think we posted simultaneously. It seems like I’m replying to you though
Can you explain why this is abuse? I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m just trying to understand what happened. He was low on time and chose that time to report? I’m sorry, probably the explanation is in there somewhere, but I can’t follow how it unfolds.
If he did it to gain an advantage it’s not “proper” (I wouldn’t like him for that either), but unfortunately professional sports are like that. Athletes that win get away with many things, inside and outside of the court (unfortunately).
And LG favouring their countryman is not proper, but that isn’t surprising either (unfortunately).
Have you seen the meme?
https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/1i73jsx/the_divine_move/
And it is more like unsportsmanlike (Byun Sangil was facing a difficult situation even when he already got 2 extra points from the first warning from Ke Jie, instead of focusing on the game, his eyes kept staring at Ke Jie’s hand and raised to report immediately knowing the second warning could give him the win when Ke Jie left his seat to fill his water cup), which is not against the rule ofc. (this is we believe Byun was just following the rule, imagine a player really want to win, and abuses the touch the dead stone or return to the opponent rule, they can raise their hand at any time, just claiming the opponent is touch the stone, accidental or not, or even not true, if judges act like the way they deal with the situation in the second game, and take minutes or even longer to react, and half an hour or more to come up ruling, that is just time you can use to read regardless)
Referees using power to create an unfair advantage is nothing new either, and many referees are pros themselves, even coaches for some Korean teams (it happened before in other tournaments). But it never got to this level of disruption, where players cannot finish the game. And the first time we can say they are testing the new rule to be strict, the second time we can say they are “forced” to do so, but did it at a suspension suspicious timing, the third time today, is after Ke Jie had return the dead stones back to the lid, and when Byun Sangil only had less than half an hour in time to think about how to live in one of his group and pause during his time. Ya, they don’t violate any rule, but fool me three times that is a bit much. (I mean the international title is a flagship event, players and judges all over in all tournaments will be watching, and who knows how many will take the wrong lesson in a “ruling winning by technicality”).
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