"We're sorry, but this store is now closed."
Starbucks Korea shut down all of its roughly 2,160 stores nationwide simultaneously at 3 p.m. Monday, marking the company's first midday closure since it entered the South Korean market in 1999. The early closure was to hold mandatory history awareness training for store employees, taking responsibility for last month's so-called "Tank Day" marketing controversy.
After closing, employees — referred to internally as "partners" — watched a prepared training video on monitors supplied by headquarters. Staff members on leave will complete the training later by watching the video online.
The training video was a recording of a session held June 17 for employees at Starbucks Korea's headquarters and E-mart affiliates. In the video, Oh Je-yeon, a history professor at Sungkyunkwan University, and Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University, each delivered lectures titled "The Right Historical Awareness a Company Should Have" and "Social Sensitivity and Ethical Standards," respectively.
In the video, Oh said South Korea's democratic republic was built through the pro-democracy movement, and that "denigrating, distorting or denying the pro-democracy movement ultimately undermines the very identity of the Republic of Korea."
Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin is also scheduled to watch the same training video with affiliate chief executives ahead of a presidents' meeting set for June 24.
spa@heraldcorp.com
