SEOUL: South Korean police have questioned an executive of Starbucks operator Shinsegae in their investigation of a flopped promotional campaign that evoked a deadly 1980 crackdown, the group told AFP on Thursday.
Starbucks Korea, which operates more than 2,000 stores nationwide under a licensing agreement with Shinsegae Group, sparked public outrage last month with a “Tank Day” promotion.
The day of the reusable cup promotion — May 18 — coincided with the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju uprising in which 165 civilians were killed, according to the official toll, though many believe the real figure to be much higher.
Shinsegae Group fired its Korea chief executive the day the scandal broke, and the group’s chairman Chung Yong-jin later bowed in apology over the incident.
This did not stop a civic group from filing a complaint against Chung and other executives claiming they violated a 2016 law that, among other provisions, prohibits the dissemination of false information about the 1980 pro-democracy crackdown.
