SEOUL — Starbucks Korea will close all of its stores nationwide at 3 p.m. on June 22 for mandatory history and social sensitivity training for its employees. This early closure will be the first nationwide for the company since its opening in the country in 1999.

The training follows backlash over a marketing campaign that referenced the May 18 Gwangju uprising. Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5 percent stake in Starbucks Korea, stated, "The move is intended to take the incident as a lesson and prevent similar cases from recurring across the group in the future." Shinsegae executives and employees at company headquarters will attend in-person training on Wednesday led by history and sociology professors, while store employees will watch a video recording of a training session.

The company launched a marketing campaign promoting a series of stainless-steel tumblers called SS Tank. The campaign designated May 18 as Tank Day, which marks the anniversary of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju. South Korea's military government deployed troops, tanks, and helicopters to suppress the uprising, resulting in approximately 200 deaths according to government records, though activists and historians estimate higher figures.

The marketing campaign also used the slogan "Thwack it on the table!" Shinsegae stated that an artificial intelligence tool generated the slogan recommendations. A 1987 police statement regarding student activist Park Jong-chol's death claimed he died after investigators struck a desk. Shinsegae canceled the marketing campaign within hours of its launch, and company chief executive Son Jung-hyun was terminated. Police opened an investigation into the campaign after receiving complaints from relatives of Gwangju crackdown victims.

Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin issued a nationally televised apology regarding the campaign. He will attend separate training with chief executives of Shinsegae affiliates on June 24. Starbucks Global Headquarters stated, "The incident was unintentional but never should have happened." Calls to boycott the chain were accompanied by reports of decreased chain sales. President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung said, "This conduct was inhumane and disgraceful."