Starbucks Korea to close early for history training after backlash
Shinsegae Group said Starbucks stores in South Korea will shut at 3pm for staff training after a campaign evoked the 1980 Gwangju crackdown.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
2 min read
Starbucks stores across South Korea will close early next week so employees can take history and sensitivity training, operator Shinsegae Group said. The step follows a marketing campaign that used wording tied by critics to the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising and the military crackdown that followed.
Shinsegae Group said Monday that all Starbucks outlets in the country will shut at 3pm local time, or 06:00 GMT, on Monday next week. The company described the session as training in “historical awareness and social sensitivity.”
The company said the nationwide early closure will be the first of its kind since Starbucks entered South Korea in 1999. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin and senior executives will receive separate training on Wednesday, the group said.
Shinsegae Group said the program is meant to draw lessons from the incident and stop similar cases from happening elsewhere in the group. Starbucks’s global headquarters has said the campaign was “unintentional” but “never should have happened.”
Campaign invoked a painful date
The backlash centered on promotional materials for coffee tumblers that used the phrases “Tank Day” and “5/18,” Al Jazeera reported. In South Korea, May 18 is associated with the start of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, when pro-democracy demonstrators challenged military rule.
Starbucks Korea CEO Son Jung-hyun was removed over his role in the public relations failure, according to Al Jazeera. The campaign prompted public anger because it appeared to echo one of the most sensitive episodes in South Korea’s democratic history.
The Gwangju Uprising is widely viewed as a key moment in South Korea’s move toward democracy. Al Jazeera reported that the country held its first free elections in decades in 1987 after years under military-led governments.
The uprising was led by student protesters opposing the rule of Chun Doo-hwan, the military strongman who took power after a coup. Al Jazeera reported that Chun sent troops into the southwestern city to regain control, crushing the movement.
Government figures put the number of people killed at more than 200, while activists and historians have estimated the death toll at more than 2,000, according to Al Jazeera. The gap between official and unofficial counts remains part of the broader dispute over how the crackdown has been recorded and remembered.
South Korea has more than 2,000 Starbucks stores, Al Jazeera reported. That makes it the Seattle-based chain’s second-largest overseas market after China.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.