Starbucks bars customers in South Korea from turning their orders into political statements
SEOUL, South Korea — Ordering coffee in South Korea? Not if your name is Lee Jae-myung.
Starbucks customers in the East Asian democracy have been barred from using the names of South Korea's six presidential candidates in their orders until the election on June 3.
A spokesperson for Starbucks Korea told NBC News by phone on Friday that the policy was introduced 'in order to prevent inappropriate and abusive use of the names.'
In recent months South Koreans have increasingly used Starbucks as a political platform — ordering drinks through the app under politicians' names instead of their own, sometimes combined with calls to support or oppose them. Those entreaties are then repeated by baristas when they call out the orders for pickup in stores.
Businesses such as Starbucks are anxious to appear neutral given the tense political atmosphere in South Korea, where voters are choosing a successor to former-President Yoon Suk Yeol after he was impeached over his botched martial law declaration late last year.
The two main candidates are Lee Jae-myung of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, who narrowly lost to Yoon in South Korea's 2022 presidential election, and Kim Moon-soo from Yoon's conservative People Power Party.
The other candidates whose names are not allowed in Starbucks orders are Lee Jun-seok, Kwon Young-kook, Hwang Kyo-ahn and Song Jin-ho.
While Lee Jae-myung is leading in polls, Kim is narrowing the gap and could pull even if he persuades Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party to drop out of the race and throw Kim his support.
Customers interviewed by NBC News said they understood why Starbucks would introduce the policy but many described it as an overreaction.
'Honestly, setting a nickname like that doesn't seem like an easy or effective way to make a political statement,' said Hyunwoo Park, 25.
'It's just a nickname — I think people should have the freedom to choose their own,' said Young-Eh Choi, 60. 'It's my right, so restricting it feels like too much.'
Yoon's martial law declaration and subsequent impeachment trial have been deeply divisive in South Korea, increasing polarization between liberals who accused Yoon of abusing power and conservatives who embraced his baseless claims of election fraud and adopted slogans and symbols associated with President Donald Trump such as 'Stop the Steal.'
Yoon supporters stormed a Seoul court in January after a judge extended his detention over the short-lived martial law order.
'The country feels very divided by age, gender and political affiliation,' Park said. 'Personally, I hope we can move past these exhausting conflicts and come together as Koreans.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
From a 'day of love' to 'if they spit, we will hit': Trump's about-face on violence against police
President Donald Trump has promised swift retribution for any violence against law enforcement by protesters in Los Angeles. 'IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before,' he wrote on his social media platform after making a similar statement a day earlier to reporters. 'Such disrespect will not be tolerated!' It is an about-face for the president. On Jan. 6, 2021, Peter Stager assaulted an officer with a flagpole during the riot on the U.S. Capitol. Another, Daniel 'D.J.' Rodriguez, drove a stun gun into the neck of a Capitol police officer and pleaded guilty to the crime. And a third, Julian Khater, pepper-sprayed Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick in the face. Sicknick later died. Trump pardoned them all. Trump's tolerance for violence against law enforcement during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is facing renewed scrutiny in the wake of his remarks and actions in Los Angeles, where his administration is taking a hard line against protesters. He federalized thousands of National Guard members and sent 700 U.S. Marines to the country's second-largest city — against the wishes of state and local officials — after protesters blocked immigration enforcement actions. It's a sea change from how Trump treated the Jan. 6 riot, when his supporters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to block Congress' certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election win. In an address Tuesday evening about events in his state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the disparity. 'By the way, Trump, he's not opposed to lawlessness and violence, as long as it serves him. What more evidence do we need than Jan. 6?' Newsom said. Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer who was serving in the Capitol during the attack, told NBC News that he sees Trump's actions then and now as hypocritical. 'Donald Trump is OK with violence, as long as it's done in his name. That's the message that he's sending right now,' Dunn said. 'That's why he pardoned the people on Jan. 6: They did it in his name … what about the officers on Jan. 6? Just put an asterisk by those officers and say, 'Not them. They stopped Donald Trump from succeeding.'' The White House says Trump is fulfilling his mandate. 'President Trump was elected to secure the border, equip federal officials with the tools to execute this plan, and restore law and order. This also underscores the need to pass the OBBB, which would provide record funding and resources to those on the front lines in Los Angeles,' White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement, referring to Trump's push for his 'One big beautiful bill,' the legislative vehicle for his agenda currently before Congress. On Wednesday, NBC News also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about how the Trump administration is handling California versus Jan. 6, 2021. 'Well, this is very different,' she said. 'These are people out there hurting people in California right now. This is ongoing. No longer. We're going to protect them. We're going to do everything we can to prosecute violent criminals in California. California is burning. These people are waving Mexican flags, yet they don't want anyone to go back to Mexico. They're burning American flags. This is the United States of America, and we're going to protect Americans. We're going to protect all citizens out there.' During the riot at the Capitol, no National Guard help arrived for hours, despite pleas from those inside the building. Then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller testified before a House panel that Trump never gave a formal deployment order, and other testimony described then-Vice President Mike Pence taking the lead in attempting to get the National Guard out to help control the mob. Meanwhile, rioters violently broke through barriers, smashed windows, brutalized officers and chanted threats to Pence. In all, at least 140 police officers were injured. Trump later called it ' a day of love ' and has referred to the rioters as ' hostages,' ' warriors ' and 'victims.' 'What they've done to some people that are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,' Trump said to former President Joe Biden at last year's first presidential debate, referring to the rioters. 'What you have done, how you've destroyed the lives of so many people. Michael Fanone, a former D.C. police officer who was attacked by Rodriguez on Jan. 6, took issue with Trump's posture in California. Fanone called the president 'a hypocrite,' and 'a liar.' 'Had those people storming the Capitol been illegal f--- immigrants or Black people or any other group that … his base found to be displeasing, then they would have said 'open fire,'' Fanone said in an interview. The Los Angeles clashes began Friday as federal immigration agents attempted to carry out arrests in the city. Some protesters tried to stop vehicles carrying detained immigrants and the confrontations soon turned violent, with officers using pepper spray and batons. By Sunday, National Guard troops, outfitted with heavy military equipment, moved into downtown Los Angeles. Some demonstrators pelted law enforcement vehicles with rocks and debris, and set numerous vehicles on fire. Dozens of people were arrested over the weekend, and the L.A. Police Department reported five officers suffering minor injuries and two others treated and released from the hospital in recent days. By Monday, Trump had deployed the U.S. Marines into the state. At a news conference on Tuesday, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., both brought up comparisons to Jan. 6. 'We begged the President of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it,' Pelosi said. 'That day he didn't do it. He forgave those people.' Gomez spoke of the furor with which the events unfolded that day. 'There was 50,000 people outside,' Gomez said. 'They were scaling the walls, scaling the walls. They were bashing in, breaking in, with members of Congress, members of Congress, trapped in the gallery, including myself, including a lot of the people here.' Earlier this year, Trump issued more than 1,500 pardons or commutations for the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office. Among the crimes Trump dissolved was that of Stager, a 44-year-old truck driver from Arkansas who was sentenced to four years in prison for the flagpole assault. According to prosecutors, Stager was caught on a Jan. 6 video saying, 'Every single one of those Capitol law enforcement officers, death is the remedy, that is the only remedy they get.' Dunn, the former U.S. Capitol police officer, noted that the same Republicans who are in lockstep with Trump at this moment in California are the same ones who have refused to display a plaque commemorating those who died and were injured on Jan. 6. 'What about the blue from Jan. 6th? They don't even want to put the plaque up! Back the blue that way then,' Dunn added. 'It's hypocritical and they're aware that it's all about appeasing their base and appeasing the leader of their party, which is Donald Trump.'
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
ICE rejected Mahmoud Khalil's request to be detained closer to newborn son, emails show
After nearly three months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil made a request to move closer to his family. It was denied by the agency last week, according to emails reviewed Wednesday by NBC News. Khalil's legal team asked in late May that he be transferred to a detention center in New Jersey to be closer to his wife and newborn son. He has been held in a Louisiana ICE facility since March. ICE's policy requires that detained noncitizen parents or legal guardians, who are primary caretakers or have custody of minor children, be held in facilities close to their children The New Orleans ICE Field Office wrote that Khalil did not fall under the criteria of the agency policy and denied the request without explanation, according to the emails. 'I am declining your request that Mr. Khalil be transferred from the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana to a detention center in New Jersey,' an official at the field office wrote. Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana, which is part of Khalil's legal team, called the decision 'cruel.' 'ICE's directive recognizes that the government should have no role in destroying the family unit, and yet that is exactly what is happening here,' Ahmed said. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to NBC News' request for comment on the emails. Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, a Michigan-born dentist, gave birth to the couple's son in April. Citing the ICE policy, his legal team reached out to the New Orleans office in hopes of getting him moved. The directive, issued in 2022, considers detained parents who have custody of their children as 'covered individuals' under the policy. It stipulates that covered individuals must be placed 'as close as practicable' to their minor children. It also requires ICE personnel to accommodate regular visitation between covered individuals and their minor children. 'There is no possible justification to detain Mr. Khalil at such a great distance from his minor child, in violation of ICE's own policy, when ICE maintains numerous detention facilities within driving distance of where Mr. Khalil's wife and infant son reside in New York City,' Khalil's counsel wrote in an email to the New Orleans ICE office. In an email to Khalil's legal counsel, an official at the New Orleans ICE office said that the detainee did not qualify as a covered individual. Khalil, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status last year, became a widely recognized activist amid the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year. In March, he was abruptly arrested outside of his student housing on campus and detained before being accused by the Trump administration of leading 'activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.' He has not been charged with any criminal conduct. ICE previously rejected Khalil's request to attend his son's birth, court documents show. 'The most immediate and visceral harms I have experienced directly relate to the birth of my son, Deen. Instead of holding my wife's hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,' Khalil said in a legal filing last week. Khalil met his son for the first time last month, his attorneys said, just before an immigration hearing.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Head of controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation refuses to reveal who funds it
TEL AVIV — The new executive chairman for the controversial American-backed humanitarian organization distributing aid in the Gaza Strip refused to reveal the donors who are financing the agency, though he did tell NBC News that to his knowledge the group is not funded by the Israeli government. Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian and former PR consultant who advised President Donald Trump during his first term, was appointed executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) last week as the organization reeled from the resignation of his predecessor. It has also faced criticism from the United Nations and aid groups for a lack of independence from Israel, which backs the organization along with the U.S. Since it started operating late last month, the group has set up aid distribution sites in Gaza in response to international pressure over serious malnutrition in Gaza, where Israel recently lifted an 11-week complete blockade on food, aid and medical supplies entering the enclave. But regular bouts of deadly violence in and around those sites has also brought increasing scrutiny on the GHF's source of funding and the degree of autonomy it has from Israel. In an exclusive interview with NBC News last week, Moore said it was 'a private foundation.' 'Like lots of private foundations, you know, it doesn't disclose its donors,' he said. 'Anything that we do and anything that we say publicly is going to distract from the mission, and we have one mission, just one mission, which is to feed Gazans.' Pressed on accusations that Israel was financing and controlling the organization, Moore said that 'based upon what I know, this is an independent initiative that is not funded by the Israeli government.' Other questions have also swirled around the GHF, even before it launched four aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza. A day before it began operations in the strip, Moore's predecessor Jake Wood resigned, saying in a letter published by Reuters that continuing to work with the group would compromise his 'neutrality, impartiality and independence.' United Nations agencies and major aid groups that previously ran hundreds of community kitchens and bakeries in the enclave have also refused to cooperate with it, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to decide who receives aid, forces widespread displacement in Gaza, and concentrates distribution in areas that may not be accessible to everyone. Setting up so few sites for food distribution meant crowd control problems were inevitable, according to Ciaran Donnelly, the senior vice president for international programs at the International Rescue Committee, which ran major relief operations in Gaza. 'No aid organization would recommend doing it that way,' he said. Inside Israel, as well, critics have questioned its independence. Last month in front of Israel's legislature, opposition leader Yair Lapid, without providing evidence, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of funding the GHF through foreign shell companies. And last week, citing unnamed public officials, Israel's public broadcaster, Kan, reported that the Israeli government had sent hundreds of millions of shekels to the group. Israel's government has repeatedly denied it funds the GHF. Any organization 'being used by occupying powers' would not be able to carry out its task according to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and independence, said Philip Grant, the executive director of TRIAL International, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that advocates for victims of war crimes. TRIAL International has called on the Swiss government to investigate GHF, whose only registered presence outside the U.S. is in Geneva. While the GHF has said it is working to open new sites, including in northern Gaza, no such distribution points have opened yet, forcing some Palestinians with advanced injuries and disabilities to walk long distances for aid — often through dangerous areas and extreme heat. Such onerous requirements for something as basic as food could amount to war crimes, Grant said, and could even lead to accusations that organizations like GHF are complicit. 'This operation comes with a huge risk in terms of violations of the Geneva Conventions,' Grant said. 'Especially the forced displacement of populations, which, if carried out, would be a participation in the war crime of enforced displacement of civilian population.'
