President Lee Digs Up 7-Year-Old Musinsa Ad... May 18 Disparagement Controversy Spreads

President Lee Jaemyung's X Post Fact-Check
Musinsa's "Quick-Drying Socks" Ad: "Mockery and Insult to the June Democratic Uprising"
Musinsa: "Apology and Preventive Measures Completed"... Heightened Tensions in the Retail Industry

President Lee Jaemyung's criticism of Musinsa's past "quick-dry socks" advertisement, following Starbucks' recent "Tank Day" event, has sparked a widening controversy in the retail industry over perceived disparagement of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.

On May 20, President Lee shared an advertisement photo from Musinsa.com on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating, "This advertisement insults and mocks the case of Park Jongcheol's death by torture and the subsequent June Democratic Uprising. I received a tip-off about this, so I need to verify whether it is genuine."

He added, "I ask all of you to help confirm this as well. I hope it is not true, but if it is, it is a deeply serious issue. They say money is the root of all evil, but how could anyone do something like this in human form?"

Musinsa, 2019 Advertisement... Apologized and Removed Post After Recognizing the Controversy

The advertisement in question was produced by Musinsa in July 2019. At the time, Musinsa issued an official apology stating that the advertisement wording was posted on social media on July 2, 2019, and expressing regret for using a phrase in the promotion that quoted a police statement from the time of Park Jongcheol's death by torture case.

Musinsa explained that while the problematic phrase was removed during the website posting process, the review results were not reflected in the SNS publication process.

After recognizing the controversy, Musinsa deleted the post and later visited the Park Jongcheol Memorial Foundation to personally apologize to the bereaved family and related parties. The company also promoted donations related to the issue, strengthened its content review system, disciplined those responsible, and provided modern and contemporary history education to all employees.

The Blue House: "President Firm on Eradicating Ongoing Historical Distortions"

In response, the Blue House stated, "The President's usual philosophy and determination are reflected in his efforts to fundamentally eradicate the ongoing mockery, distortion, and trivialization of democratization movements and their victims."

With the recent "Tank Day" controversy at Starbucks and now the resurfacing of Musinsa's past case, tension is increasing across the retail industry.

As expressions and content open to political or social interpretation can spread rapidly online, companies are now further tightening their review standards for advertising and marketing content.

An industry insider commented, "As past posts and campaigns continue to be revisited, the importance of risk management in all aspects of brand communication has grown significantly. Companies are moving toward operating internal review standards for advertising phrases and SNS content much more conservatively than before."

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