Kim Seung-hyun
The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.
The recent Starbucks Korea controversy has made me question my own literacy. I once laughed at stories about younger Koreans asking, “Where is Ucheon?” after reading notices saying an event would move indoors “in case of rain” (
ucheon-si in Korean, which sounds like the name of a city). But confronted with the marketing controversy surrounding Starbucks Korea, I, too, became a consumer unable to fully grasp the meaning behind what I was seeing.
Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin bows his head in apology for the controversy surrounding Starbucks Korea’s “Tank Day” event at the Josun Palace hotel in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on May 26. [KIM KYUNG-ROK]
