The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Crime Investigation Unit formally booked Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin and former Starbucks Korea CEO Son Jung-hyun as criminal suspects on Sunday, opening a formal probe into allegations tied to Starbucks Korea’s May 18 “Tank Day” marketing controversy. The investigation follows complaints that campaign language and imagery used during the promotion deliberately incorporated far-right online subculture markers that mock state-sanctioned massacres and a historic police torture cover-up. Police described the booking as a routine procedural step in the investigation process.

Compounding Shinsegae Group’s vulnerabilities, President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday called for a