Starbucks 'Tank Day' promotion, investigation into suspicion of insulting 5/18 soldiers of merit

The police, who are investigating allegations that Starbucks insulted those who contributed to the May 18 Democratization Movement through its 'Tank Day' promotion, are investigating the head of the Shinsegae Group audit team on the 17th.

According to a report by Yonhap News, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Public Crimes Investigation Unit is investigating by summoning Yang Jong-wan, head of the audit team (executive director) of Shinsegae Group, as a reference this morning.

Managing Director Yang directly explained the results of his own investigation in the announcement of the results of the fact-finding investigation conducted after Chairman Jeong Yong-jin's public apology on the 26th of last month.

The police, who previously received the results of their own investigation from Shinsegae Group, are expected to confirm with Managing Director Yang the details of the investigation and matters that were not disclosed in the internal investigation.

The self-audit results obtained by the police were conducted by Shinsegae Group on Starbucks' commerce team and officials on the payment line for a week starting from the 19th of last month, the day after the incident occurred.

Shinsegae Group stated that as a result of the audit, no evidence was found to prove intentionality, and that there were limitations, such as the refusal of executives and employees in charge of planning to submit mobile phones.

It is expected that the police will secure cell phone data of executives and employees that were not submitted to Shinsegae Group through future search and seizure.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Public Crime Investigation Unit, which was assigned the case on the 21st of last month, has been reviewing legal principles and investigating those involved without conducting search and seizure for about a month.

Initially, the police planned to conduct a search and seizure separate from the internal investigation of Shinsegae Group to secure the data necessary for the investigation, but it is known that they are considering what charges to include in the warrant.

Previously, contributors to the May 18th Democratization Movement and the civic group Common People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee (Common People's Committee) sued and accused Chairman Chung and others of violating the Special Act on the May 18th Democratization Movement, insults, and defamation.

In the case of the May 18th Special Act, it is stipulated that those who spread false information about the May 18th Democratization Movement can be punished, and it is not easy to prove the charges because the person being insulted by the promotion is not identified.

Accordingly, the police are said to be reviewing whether the expression 'tap on the desk' during the promotion can be seen as defamation against the family of martyr Park Jong-cheol.