Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin and Starbucks Korea Employees to Undergo Historical Awareness and Social Sensitivity Training

Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin, the company's management, and all employees of Starbucks Korea will undergo training to enhance their historical awareness and social sensitivity.
Shinsegae Group announced on June 15 that it will conduct historical awareness and social sensitivity training for executives of its E-mart division affiliates and headquarters staff at Starbucks Korea.
Chairman Chung is scheduled to participate in the training alongside the CEOs of the group's affiliates prior to the executive meeting on June 24.
This follows Chairman Chung's apology on May 26 regarding the controversy surrounding Starbucks' "Tank Day" event, where he stated, "I sincerely bow my head in apology and ask for your forgiveness."
The group plans to reaffirm its commitment to taking responsibility to ensure that incidents similar to the Starbucks marketing controversy do not recur.
Executives from E-mart division affiliates and Starbucks Korea headquarters staff will receive the training on June 17 at Shinsegae Namsan, the company's internal training center.
The session will be attended by all executives from E-mart division affiliates, as well as Starbucks Korea headquarters staff.
Partners (employees) working at Starbucks Korea stores will undergo the training on June 22.
On that day, all stores across the country will close early at 3:00 p.m., and each location will watch a video recording of the lectures on historical awareness and social sensitivity held on June 17.
The staff will also take time to reflect on the Starbucks brand value of "devoting ourselves to one customer, one cup of coffee, and our neighbors."
This marks the first time since its opening in 1999 that all Starbucks Korea stores will close early simultaneously.
Employees of other E-mart division affiliates will take the same course through online training over two weeks starting July 1.
The historical awareness training will be led by Oh Je-yeon, a professor of history at Sungkyunkwan University.
Professor Oh, a scholar specializing in modern Korean history, will review major events in modern and contemporary history since the 1950s and lecture on how to properly perceive them.
The social sensitivity training will be conducted by Koo Jeong-woo, a professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University.
He plans to educate participants on how companies should consider and be mindful of social issues—such as history, labor, gender, and human rights—when engaging in marketing and other business activities.
Regarding the early closure of Starbucks stores on June 22, Shinsegae Group stated, "This demonstrates our determination to take this marketing incident seriously and ensure it does not happen again."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.