Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung on the 21st urged a boycott of Starbucks within the civil service over the controversy surrounding the "TankDay" event.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) that day, the Minister said, "Using this case as a turning point, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) will not provide products from corporations that make light of the history and values of democracy or use them as commercial material."
He added, "Government agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), have so far used mobile gift certificates, such as coffee vouchers, for various surveys, contests, and public-participation events."
The Minister also said, "I hope many agencies and members of the public will empathize with this measure," and "We express deep regret over Starbucks Korea's anti-historical conduct."
As the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) oversees the public-service culture of government ministries, there is an expectation that the Minister's remarks will inevitably affect the civil service.
Meanwhile, Starbucks Korea held a "TankDay" event on the 46th anniversary of the May 18 pro-democracy uprising on the 18th. Critics said the term "tank" evokes the armored vehicles of martial-law forces deployed to Gwangju during the May 18 pro-democracy uprising. There was also criticism that the ad copy "Bang on the desk!" recalls the National Police Headquarters' announcement at the time of the 1987 Park Jong-cheol torture-death case.