Police Raid Starbucks Korea Headquarters Over ‘Tank Day’ Controversy

floriparesort.com – 06 August 2026 | Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters over a controversial marketing campaign that sparked outrage across the country. The campaign, called ‘Tank Day,’ was launched on May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising, in which at least 165 civilians were killed by a military dictatorship. The chain was accused of trivializing the nation’s landmark protest movement and insulting the dead, remembered as martyrs by many South Koreans.

The Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation into the firm, with a civic group and bereaved families filing a complaint accusing members of the Shinsegae Group, which operates Starbucks Korea, of defaming and insulting the victims and relatives. The complaint named Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin and Son Jung-hyun, the former CEO of Starbucks Korea, who resigned over the furor.

The ‘Tank Day’ promotion was meant to tout a new line of capacious tumblers for coffee beverages, but it was seen as insensitive and disrespectful to the victims of the 1980 uprising. The campaign’s name evoked the tanks deployed against demonstrators that day, and promotional material used a phrase that echoed a notorious 1987 police statement describing the custodial death of a student activist.

Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters to secure materials related to the campaign, with investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s provincial special detective corps searching the Centerfield building in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. The raid marked the first compulsory investigative measure in a criminal probe opened after the marketing promotion drew accusations of mocking victims of the country’s 1980 pro-democracy movement.

Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters as part of a probe into the firm’s handling of the controversy, with Shinsegae Group saying an internal review found the marketing mistake was unintentional and issuing a public apology. The company dismissed Starbucks Korea CEO Son Jung-hyun in response, while Chung issued multiple public apologies. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung also criticized the promotion publicly.

Starbucks Corp. in the U.S. issued its own apology despite having ceded operational control of the South Korean business to Shinsegae years earlier. In an unusually sweeping move, Starbucks Korea closed all of its more than 2,000 stores early in June for mandatory history and social-sensitivity training, the chain’s first nationwide early closure since it entered the South Korean market in 1999.

In conclusion, the Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters over the ‘Tank Day’ controversy, marking a significant development in the ongoing probe into the firm’s handling of the marketing campaign. The incident has sparked widespread outrage and criticism, with many calling for greater sensitivity and respect for the country’s history and victims of the 1980 uprising.

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