President Lee Directly Criticizes Starbucks: "Siren Event on Sewol Memorial Day—This Isn't Even Ilbe"

President Lee: "This is not something a person with a conscience could do"
Harsh criticism of Starbucks: "Immoral acts of a malicious merchant"

On the 23rd, President Lee Jae-myung sharply criticized Starbucks for holding the "Siren Event" on April 16, which is the memorial day for the Sewol ferry disaster, stating, "This isn't Ilbe Archive, it's an official event by a major corporation, so I have nothing more to say."

President Lee made these remarks by sharing a post by Democratic Party National Assembly member Jeong Jinwook on his social network service (SNS), X (formerly Twitter), on the same day.

President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a memorial speech at the 17th anniversary ceremony of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's passing held on May 23 at Bongha Village, Gimhae, Gyeongnam. 2026.5.23 Yonhap News Agency

Previously, Assemblyman Jeong stated in the post, "Starbucks used the siren—Siren, a mythological figure who wrecks ships with her song—in an event on April 16, the anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. While the Siren is the figure in the Starbucks logo, to do such a thing on April 16 is an atrocity that is beyond outrage."

Regarding this, President Lee said, "To launch a Siren Event on the Sewol ferry disaster memorial day (April 16)... I sincerely hope this isn't true," adding, "Because this is something no one with a conscience could ever do."

He continued, "On the day of the Sewol ferry disaster memorial, while the bereaved families are wracked with pain and the public is overcome with grief, launching a cryptic event laced with a mocking undertone like this insults the victims, mocks the people, and was likely enjoyed by those involved in their own way."

President Lee further stated, "Connecting the dots, it is difficult to see the recent 'Tank Day' event marking May 18—which mocked and insulted the Gwangju Democratization Movement and martyr Park Jongcheol—as an accidental incident," and warned, "How did our society come to this? There will be public judgment for these heartless acts that habitually desecrate victims of state violence and disasters just to make a profit."

He added, "Upon reflection, what they are doing does not even resemble the conduct of low-class merchants, but rather the immoral acts of malicious profiteers."

Earlier, Starbucks held a tumbler event called "Tank Day" on May 18 and included the phrase "Desk Slam" in its promotional materials. Since this was released on May 18, there was a flood of criticism that Starbucks was ridiculing the May 18 Democratization Movement and insulting the torture and death of Park Jongcheol. President Lee criticized this on May 20, saying, "How can anyone do such a thing while wearing the mask of a human being?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.