There is no date more solemn in South Korea’s political calendar than May 18. On that day in 1980, Chun Doo-hwan, who had just seized power, ordered the massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters in the southwestern city of Gwangju. For most, it is remembered as one of the worst tragedies in modern South Korean history.
For Starbucks Korea, however, the occasion was a joke. On the 46th anniversary of what is now known as the Gwangju Uprising, Starbucks Korea released a new branded tumbler while celebrating “Tank Day” and said that the tumbler can just be “slapped on the table”—both of which are unsubtle references to far-right memes that mock the victims of the massacre.
There is no date more solemn in South Korea’s political calendar than May 18. On that day in 1980, Chun Doo-hwan, who had just seized power, ordered the massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters in the southwestern city of Gwangju. For most, it is remembered as one of the worst tragedies in modern South Korean history.
For Starbucks Korea, however, the occasion was a joke. On the 46th anniversary of what is now known as the Gwangju Uprising, Starbucks Korea released a new branded tumbler while celebrating “Tank Day” and said that the tumbler can just be “slapped on the table”—both of which are unsubtle references to far-right memes that mock the victims of the massacre.
