'Let's go to Starbucks' chant becomes flashpoint in political debate

A controversial chant by high school baseball players has erupted into a political flashpoint in South Korea, with rival parties clashing over whether the students deserve harsh punishment.

The “Let’s go to Starbucks” chant was widely interpreted as a derisive slogan evoking Starbucks Korea’s “Tank Day” promotion. The campaign sparked outrage last month for allegedly belittling the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, a significant event in South Korea’s democratic history commemorated on May 18.

Liberal politicians called for strong preventive measures against hate speech, with some demanding that the baseball team disband. Conservative politicians accused the liberal bloc of using the case to their advantage through selective outrage.

The debate was sparked by four-term Democratic Party lawmaker Rep. Lee Kae-ho’s proposal to disband the baseball team for the chant, which disrespected victims of the Gwangju Uprising protests and massacre.

Lee, representing a constituency in South Jeolla Province, said Monday that the Paichai High School’s baseball team should “be immediately disbanded” and the student players “must face stern punishment.”

During their Monday game against Gwangju Jeil High School, players on the Seoul-based school’s baseball team chanted “Let’s go to Starbucks” in unison, with one shouting “Tank Day” as they were leading in the game.

It was an apparent reference to Starbucks Korea’s controversial “Tank Day” promotion campaign, which launched on the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising.

Moreover, Gwangju Jeil High School is based in the very city where civilian protesters were killed in the military crackdown led by Chun Doo-hwan, who assumed the role of president in 1981.

On Wednesday, Democratic Party lawmaker Rep. Park Hae-cheol said his party will ensure that there is no place for hatred, discrimination and distorted historical narratives in South Korea’s education. The country’s southwestern region is considered a liberal stronghold.

“An incident that should never have happened occurred at a high school baseball tournament,” Park said in a statement, adding the incident happened due to “the older generation’s failure to prevent the distortion and disparagement of the democratic movement.”

Paichai High School baseball players’ slogans not only “mocked the May 18 Democratization Movement,” but also degenerated the ball park into “a violent space where language of hatred and discrimination is rampant,” he added.

The baseball team was handed a six-month suspension from sports authorities and was immediately disqualified from the ongoing tournament.

This prompted the main opposition People Power Party’s call on the authorities to reconsider its disciplinary actions on the entire team.

“For young athletes, participating in national tournaments is a crucial step to college admission and their baseball careers,” Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig, floor leader of the People Power Party, said on Facebook Wednesday.

“Not all of the Paichai High School players committed wrongdoing, and there are many players who did not join the mockery. And a six-month suspension for the entire baseball team is excessive.”

Kim Jae-won, People Power Party’s supreme council member, said Thursday that imposing severe disciplinary action on the entire team as a consequence and Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin’s involvement in the case to publicly reprimand them is “excessive and violent.”

Some conservative lawmakers say the liberal bloc’s selective outrage over the mockery is proof that the case is being politically exploited.

“The political circles are making (the historical event) a sanctuary, and it is rather generating backlash,” Rep. Woo Jae-jun, another People Power Party supreme council member, said Thursday.

The liberal bloc “has lost its balance” in handling this matter, as the country moves to exclusively include the Gwangju Uprising in the preamble of the Constitution through an amendment, and as the president and ministers are stepping up to launch boycotts of companies for disparaging the democratic movement, Woo added.

This followed independent conservative lawmaker Rep. Han Dong-hoon’s remarks Wednesday that neither liberal-leaning political show host nor Starbucks Korea itself were subject to a disciplinary action equivalent to a six-month suspension of a school baseball team.

“Choi Wook, who said on air that things should be run over by a tank, only apologized and is still hosting his show, and Starbucks Korea was not suspended from business operation,” Han said.