Starbucks Korea has included the names of seven official presidential candidates as unusable for customer nicknames, in a bid to avoid politically-charged controversy.
The local branch of the international coffeehouse chain said Tuesday that the politicians' names, along with recently-impeached ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, have been banned from its Call My Name service, until the conclusion of the upcoming June 3 presidential election.
Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Korea, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, Kwon Young-guk of the Korean Democratic Labor Party, Koo Joo-wa of the Liberty Unification Party, and independent candidates Hwang Kyo-ahn and Song Jin-ho cannot be registered in the Starbucks application for the service.
Candidates' official campaign slogans also cannot be used.
According to the company, this was a measure to minimize controversy and avoid political bias. Its official criteria for unusable nicknames include expressions that are against social norms, slanderous expressions, nicknames that can potentially cause discomfort among the public.
The election to pick the president was initially slated to take place in 2027, but Yoon's much-disputed martial law imposition in December resulted him being expelled from presidency. He is currently under criminal trial for insurrection.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
