As controversy over Starbucks Korea's "Tank Day" spreads, delivery workers have begun refusing to deliver and are boycotting Starbucks products. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency decided to investigate the related complaint directly.
The Delivery Platform Labor Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KTCU) Service Federation said in a statement on the 21st, "We condemn Starbucks for insulting the May 18 Gwangju Uprising and declare a boycott and a refusal to deliver."
In the statement, the union said, "They turned the memory of that day—when martial law troops, backed by armored vehicles and tanks, massacred Gwangju citizens—into a marketing tool to sell a cup of coffee," adding, "This is not a simple marketing mistake. It is the result of not knowing history or knowing it and ignoring it."
It continued, "If such an insult to history clings to a single cup of coffee we deliver every day, refusing that delivery is our right as workers and the minimum duty as citizens," adding, "We won't go. We won't buy. We won't deliver."
On the 18th, Starbucks used phrases such as "Tank Day" and "a bang on the desk" while promoting a tumbler sales event. As the expressions coincided with the May 18 Democratization Movement anniversary, criticism arose that they made light of the military's violent crackdown and the sacrifices of the democratization movement.
As the controversy grew, Chung Yong-jin, chairman of Shinsegae Group, notified SCK Company CEO Son Jeong-hyeon of dismissal and said in a public apology, "This is inappropriate marketing that should not exist and cannot be tolerated."
The civic group People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee filed a complaint on the 20th accusing Chairman Chung and former CEO Son of insult and defamation against the May 18 bereaved families and Gwangju citizens. The case was initially assigned to Gangnam Police Station but was later reassigned to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Major Crime Investigation Division's Public Crime Investigation Unit.
The Major Crime Investigation Division is an organization that handles major cases, and a similar complaint filed with the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's Nambu Police Station is expected to be consolidated and investigated together.