Starbucks Korea Shuts Outlets for Staff History Lesson Amid Gwangju‑Uprising Outrage

Starbucks Korea decided to close all its Korean locations for three hours on Wednesday 15:00 local time to give its staff a history lesson after the chain’s Tank Day promotion sparked outrage.

The promotional campaign—launched on the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju uprising, in which at least 165 civilians were killed by the military—was widely viewed as a cruel reference to Korea’s darkest period. Public backlash included protests outside stores and a significant drop in sales.

Shinsegae Group, which licenses Starbucks in South Korea, fired its chief executive the day of the scandal and announced that the Chairman, Chung Yong‑jin, would also attend the training. The staff will receive a mandatory educational video on historical awareness and social sensitivity.

This is the first nationwide early closure for Starbucks Korea since its 1999 launch. Chairman Lee Jae‑Myung of South Korea publicly condemned what he called “inhumane and disgraceful conduct.”

The crisis unfolded after an AI‑generated slogan used in the Tank Series promotion featured the Korean word “tak,” which also echoes a historically controversial police statement from 1987. Critics argued that the slogan inadvertently referenced the 1987 student movement against the Chun Doo‑hwan regime.

The Gwangju uprising remains a pivotal event in South Korea’s path to democracy, with subsequent investigations revealing mass killings, military rapes and brutal beatings. In 2018, the government apologized for the rape of women, and Chun’s grandson later expressed remorse and apologized to families of those killed.

Starbucks Korea’s apology for the “inconvenience and concern” to customers acknowledges the severity of the situation and contributes to a broader conversation about corporate sensitivity to national history.