More than 2,000 Starbucks stores are closing early on June 22 after a promotion sparked national outrage

A botched marketing campaign by Starbucks’ South Korean operation that’s resulted in boycotts, an investigation, a fired executive, and a public apology continues as all 2,000-plus locations nationwide will close early on June 22 for mandatory history and social sensitivity training. This will mark the first nationwide early closure of Starbucks Korea since the coffee chain began operating in the country in 1999. After the U.S. and China, South Korea is the third-largest market for Seattle-based Starbucks. Shinsegae Group, which owns the majority stake in the coffee chain’s South Korean operations, is still doing damage control four weeks after launching a promotion for stainless-steel tumblers on May 18 in honor of what it referred to as “Tank Day.” That promotion was quickly met with widespread criticism and backlash as it came on the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, a pro-democracy movement that turned violent and deadly after the military deployed troops, tanks and helicopters to suppress the rebellion. Only hours after that promotion launched, Shinsegae fired the chain’s chief executive Sohn Jeong-hyun and vowed to investigate the circumstances that led to it happening in the first place. All visitors to the Starbucks Korea website are now greeted with an apology message from Chairman Chung Yong-jin written that same day. “We deeply feel a heavy sense of responsibility regarding this incident and the gravity of the matter, and we will take all possible measures to prevent such an incident from recurring,” the apology message on the website reads, in part, according to a Google translation. TRAINING, OTHER CHANGES COMING Next week’s training session at its Seoul headquarters, which will be led by history and sociology professors, is the chain’s latest effort to reassure customers who are still outraged over the promotion. Locations are closing early so that employees can also view a recording of the session. “It demonstrates how seriously we take this m