Veterans minister calls for sanctions against Starbucks Korea over botched marketing campaign

Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul said Friday he believes Starbucks Korea should face sanctions over the recent controversial marketing campaign associated with the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, saying it was not the result of an "individual deviation," but a company-level marketing scheme.

Kwon made the remarks as the South Korean operator of Starbucks has come under intense public scrutiny after it launched an online "Tank Day" promotion last week, which many believe referenced the bloody military crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement in 1980 as a marketing catchphrase.

"This is corporate marketing, not misconduct committed by an individual," Kwon told reporters. "I stand by the position that [the company] should clearly come under criticism and face sanctions over the matter."

Asked whether the ministry plans to maintain its agreement with Starbucks Korea to offer scholarships to descendants of independence fighters, a ministry official said it plans to review whether to continue the initiative in light of public sentiment and other factors, noting that the scholarships had not yet been distributed this year.

Under the agreement, Starbucks Korea offers 100 million won ($66,500) in university scholarships to 50 descendants of independence fighters each year from 2024 to 2026.

The veterans minister earlier vowed to step up screening for false information associated with the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju, located some 279 kilometers (173 miles) southwest of Seoul.

Starbucks Korea, operated by Emart, a subsidiary of retail giant Shinsegae, has seen its sales plunge by more than 26 percent in just one week following the controversial promotional event.

In a rare public outing, Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin publicly apologized for the incident earlier this week, saying he would like to "ask for forgiveness."

Meanwhile, the veterans minister said the ministry is seeking to locate the remains of independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910), believed to be buried in China, by tracking the records of three Japanese people who were executed the same day as Ahn.

"We are tracking down the death records of three Japanese individuals who died on the same day, and we have asked the Korean ambassador to Japan for his cooperation," Kwon said.

Ahn was executed in 1910 for the assassination of Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese resident-general in Korea, in Harbin, the capital of China's Heilongjiang province, in 1909. His remains are believed to be buried near Lushun Prison in the northern Chinese port city of Dalian.

In his will, Ahn requested that his remains be returned to Korea after national independence, but the exact location of his burial remains unknown.

President Lee Jae Myung said he had requested cooperation from Chinese President Xi Jinping in excavating Ahn's remains during his state visit to China in January.

Yonhap