Justice Party and Civic Groups Promote McDonald's Boycott Campaign

On the morning of the 9th, Park Chang-jin, Vice Representative of the Justice Party, is speaking at the press conference announcing the 'McDonald's Boycott Movement' held in front of McDonald's Korea LLC in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Justice Party and civic groups have decided to launch a nationwide boycott campaign against McDonald's.

The 'Countermeasures Committee Urging McDonald's to Take Social Responsibility' (tentative name), composed of political parties and civic organizations such as the Justice Party and the Part-time Workers' Union, held a press conference on the 9th in front of McDonald's Korea Ltd. in Jongno-gu, Seoul, stating, "We will carry out a nationwide boycott and one-person protests until the excessive disciplinary actions and shifting of responsibility onto part-time workers are withdrawn."

At a McDonald's store in Seoul, it was revealed through a whistleblower report that expired ingredients were used by attaching new date stickers.

In response to the controversy, McDonald's issued an apology on its official website on the 6th, explaining, "The internally set expiration date (secondary expiration date) is McDonald's own quality control standard to maintain and provide raw material quality at a higher level, and it is set shorter than the generally known distribution expiration date (primary expiration date)."

The part-time worker received a three-month suspension, and the store owner was also disciplined.

The countermeasures committee criticized McDonald's apology, stating, "The expiration date for frozen food refers to the period during frozen storage, so saying that the effective period is set shorter than the distribution expiration date is just wordplay and an act of mocking the public."

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has received a whistleblower report regarding the reuse of expired ingredients and has begun reviewing the related matters.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.