Police expected to drop case against high school baseball team over 'Starbucks' chants

Police said Monday they expect to drop a case against a Seoul high school baseball team over its alleged mockery of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement after its rival team in Gwangju expressed its wish not to seek punishment.

During a tournament game held in Seoul last month, members of Paichai High School's baseball team yelled, "Let's go to Starbucks!" and "Tank Day!" at their rivals from Gwangju Jeil High School in apparent reference to a controversial Starbucks Korea promotion that had been widely criticized and denounced for its trivialization of the brutal military crackdown on democracy activists in 1980.

A police complaint was filed against the Paichai baseball team on charges of insult.

"The victims at Gwangju Jeil High School have expressed their wish not to seek punishment," Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Park Jeong-bo said during a press briefing. "Insult is a crime that cannot be punished if the victim does not want punishment, so it appears that is how we will handle it."

Paichai baseball players and their parents visited Gwangju Jeil last week to apologize for the insensitive remarks. Students from both schools also visited the May 18th National Cemetery to pay their respects to those killed during the pro-democracy movement.

Yonhap