President Lee Jae Myung to Starbucks over ‘Tank Day’: “How can someone wearing the guise of a human do that?”

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President Lee Jae Myung speaks at the Cabinet Meeting and Emergency Economic Review Meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on the 20th. Yonhap News

On the 20th, President Lee Jae Myung, referring to Starbucks Korea’s ‘Tank Day’ marketing that disparaged the 5·18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and activist Park Jong-cheol, said, “When I see horrific depictions of May 18 in Gwangju or of the victims, how can someone, wearing the guise of a human, do such things?” The ruling party issued an advisory for candidates running in the 6·3 local elections to refrain from using Starbucks.

At the Cabinet meeting presided over at Cheong Wa Dae that day, President Lee said that for a social community to function properly, appropriate boundaries must be observed, the most important being the boundary of common sense, and added that acts that cross the line, rather than being serious problems in and of themselves, have negative effects on others and on society.

President Lee said that this was not something an individual mutters in a corner or a few individuals say while drinking, but that responsible figures in a public setting perpetrate such outrages in an organized, systematic way, asking how such a thing could be called human society. He added that even if it is not subject to punishment under the law, one still should not do it, because there are human ethics and morals required of people.

That day, President Lee also brought back the controversy over Musinsa’s 2019 sock advertisement. At the time, Musinsa used the phrase “After I tapped the quick-dry desk, it dried with a groan” alongside photos of its socks, and faced criticism for making light of the 1987 torture and death of activist Park Jong-cheol.

On X, President Lee wrote that it was an advertisement that insults and mocks the torture and death of activist Park Jong-cheol and the June Democratic Uprising that it set off, adding, “This was a tip I received, so I need to check whether it is real.” He said that he hoped it was not true, but if it was, it would be a truly serious problem, and asked, “Money may be a devil, but how can one do this while wearing the guise of a human?” A Cheong Wa Dae official explained that the post on X by the President reflected the usual philosophy and resolve of the President to root out the continued desecration of the democratization movement and its victims, the distortion of history, and trivialization.

Musinsa, which at the time deleted the advertisement and posted an official apology, said that it had been watching with a heavy heart the recent controversy over a company belittling history and had realized that the grave wrongdoing by Musinsa seven years ago was being raised again, and added, “Once again, we offer our sincere, deep apology to the late activist Park Jong-cheol, his bereaved family, and everyone who was hurt.”

Earlier, on the 18th, President Lee also wrote on X, aimed at Starbucks Korea, that he was outraged by the inhuman, bottom-of-the-barrel conduct of low-grade hucksters who deny the community of the Republic of Korea and the values of basic human rights and democracy.

Jeong Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party, issued an advisory for Democratic Party candidates and campaign workers running in the 6·3 local elections to refrain from entering Starbucks. At the Supreme Council meeting that day, Jeong said that merely going into Starbucks could give the public a very bad impression and that, in his personal view, refraining from entering Starbucks would better align with public sentiment.

The camp of Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Jeong Won-o announced internally a ban on entering Starbucks stores, a ban on bringing in Starbucks beverages and the like into the camp, and a complete collection of Starbucks tumblers and the like being used in the camp.

Within the ruling party, there were also claims that higher-ups had intervened in the Starbucks marketing process. In an interview on MBC Radio <Kim Jong-bae Focus>, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-young said that while it could not be concluded that high-level figures, such as Chairman Chung Yong-jin (Shinsegae Group), had intervened, she believed that there had been involvement in decision-making at a very high level in the marketing, saying that such marketing would be difficult to carry out without a very high-level order and that it was a mystery how on earth the process unfolded.