{"id":544,"date":"2026-05-26T03:32:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asianewscast.com\/2026\/05\/26\/starbucks-koreas-tank-day-promotion-on-a-massacre-anniversary-causes-a-political-firestorm\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T03:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:32:49","slug":"starbucks-koreas-tank-day-promotion-on-a-massacre-anniversary-causes-a-political-firestorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544","title":{"rendered":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Starbucks<\/div>
Credit: Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

On May 18, the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement,<\/span> Starbucks Korea ran a tumbler promotion called \u201c<\/span>Tank Day<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The promotional copy included the phrase \u201cBang on the Desk\u201d \u2013 a phrase instantly recognizable to any Korean adult as an echo of the police cover-up following the 1987 torture and death of democracy activist Park Jong-chul. Park\u2019s interrogators told the public that they had slammed the table and he had died on the spot. Within hours, what the company framed as a routine product launch had become a national scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement remains the most politically charged date on the South Korean calendar. In 1980, Chun Doo-hwan, a military strongman who had seized power through a coup the previous year, deployed tanks and paratroopers into the southwestern city of Gwangju to suppress a civilian uprising, killing hundreds. Official government figures put the death toll at roughly 200, though survivors and civic groups have long maintained the actual number was far higher, with some estimates reaching into the thousands. The exact figure remains contested to this day. Survivors, bereaved families, and much of the Korean public still regard the events as a defining wound in the country\u2019s democratic history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To run a \u201cTank Day\u201d promotion on that date struck millions as an act of brazen desecration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starbucks Korea canceled the event and issued multiple apologies. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin, whose subsidiary E-Mart holds a 67.5 percent stake in Starbucks Korea, <\/span>dismissed<\/span><\/a> CEO Son Jeong-hyun and a senior marketing executive and issued a personal statement of apology, pledging company-wide ethics education. The headquarters of Starbucks followed with its own statement, calling the incident \u201cunacceptable\u201d and confirming that an internal investigation was underway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The apologies did little to contain the fallout. Chung\u2019s past conduct made his contrition unconvincing to many. He had repeatedly <\/span>used<\/span><\/a> the term <\/span>myulgong<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> roughly translating to \u201ccrush commies,\u201d as a hashtag on Instagram and had publicly declared that he hates communism, positioning himself as an ideological ally of South Korea\u2019s conservative right. Critics argued that such an organizational culture, set from the top, created conditions in which a promotion this inflammatory could pass through four to five layers of internal approval without being flagged. Civil society groups filed criminal complaints against Chung and former CEO Son with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, alleging violations of the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement and criminal defamation.<\/span> The Seoul Police Agency\u2019s Serious Crime Investigation Unit has since <\/span>taken<\/span><\/a> over the case, consolidating complaints filed in both Seoul and Gwangju.<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing a police investigation triggered by civil society complaints, Shinsegae announced on May 24 that Chung would deliver a public apology in person on May 26 at the Josun Palace Hotel in Seoul \u2013 which will be his first public appearance since the scandal broke days prior. His apology is expected to include a full acknowledgment of personal responsibility and a commitment to corporate social accountability alongside the release of the group\u2019s own internal investigation findings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The controversy rapidly metastasized into electoral politics. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a> on X, formerly Twitter, that he could not comprehend how such a campaign was possible and called for appropriate moral, administrative, legal, and political responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 23, Lee escalated his criticism further, linking Tank Day to a separate Starbucks Korea promotion from two years prior. On April 16, 2024, the company had launched a new product called the \u201cSiren Classic Mug.\u201d That day, the country was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. The siren, a mythological creature whose song lured sailors to their deaths, has been Starbucks\u2019 logo since its founding in 1971 but Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Jin-wook argued that deploying the imagery on that particular date amounted to a deliberate provocation. Quoting Jung\u2019s post on X, Lee <\/span>called<\/span><\/a> the conduct \u201cthe depraved behavior of vicious merchants\u201d and said he hoped the connection was not intentional. Adding that no one wearing a human face could do such a thing, Lee also warned that the pattern of behavior \u2013 mocking victims of state violence and national tragedies on their memorial dates \u2013 would face public judgment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With campaigning underway for the June 3 local elections, Jung Chung-rae, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party, <\/span>urged<\/span><\/a> candidates and campaign workers to refrain from entering Starbucks locations, calling the promotion an act that cannot be tolerated. Several campaign headquarters, including that of Seoul mayoral candidate Jung Won-oh, went further and issued internal prohibitions on all Starbucks products. Minister of the Interior Yun Ho-jung <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> that his ministry would no longer use Starbucks gift vouchers at government events, implicitly inviting other agencies to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main opposition People Power Party, whose political lineage has roots in the party that governed under Chun\u2019s junta, largely looked the other way. Rep. Kim Min-jeon <\/span>posted<\/span><\/a> on social media that a tank in a beverage company\u2019s promotional context obviously referred to a liquid container, not a military vehicle, a line of argument that drew immediate ridicule. Separately, Rep. Han Gi-ho <\/span>declared<\/span><\/a> that Starbucks would become a gathering place for patriots who cherish conservative values and liberal democracy. With this, some PPP candidates have uploaded videos of themselves holding a Starbucks cup, framing the incident as the battlefield between the liberals and conservatives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 25, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok <\/span>dismissed<\/span><\/a> the boycott as electoral theater, accusing Lee of using the Starbucks controversy to deflect public anger over the so-called \u201cprosecution withdrawal special counsel\u201d ahead of the local elections. He also labeled it a \u201cpeople\u2019s tribunal and pitchfork song,\u201d a reference to mob justice, and predicted that once polling day passed, Lee and his supporters would be back in Starbucks as if nothing had happened. While campaigning for PPP candidates running for Incheon, the west of Seoul, on May 24, Jang urged the audience to bring Starbucks coffee to voting booths.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What the Starbucks episode lays bare extends beyond the misjudgments of any single company or the opportunism of any single party. The timing alone is instructive. Just days before the Tank Day scandal broke, a constitutional amendment bill backed by six parties \u2013 which would have enshrined the spirit of the May 18 movement in the constitution\u2019s preamble \u2013 <\/span>failed<\/span><\/a> to clear the National Assembly after the PPP boycotted the session, leaving it short of the required quorum. Justice Minister Jung Seong-ho <\/span>noted<\/span><\/a> that had the amendment passed, a stunt like Tank Day would have been unthinkable. That the bill failed despite backing from six parties speaks to how shallow the political consensus on May 18 remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korea does have laws protecting the memory of May 18. In 2021, it enacted a Special Act criminalizing the public dissemination of false claims about the movement, with violations carrying up to five years in prison. Yet enforcement has been<\/span> limited<\/span><\/a>: only 21 cases resulted in penalties in 2025, and the annual number of cases punished has remained below 30 since the amendment was introduced. The Democratic Party responded to the Tank Day scandal by <\/span>introducing<\/span><\/a> an amendment that would expand the reach of law to cover mockery, insult, and outright denial. The contrast with Germany, where publicly trivializing Nazi-era genocide carries the same maximum penalty and has been enforced against offenders abroad, underscores how wide the gap between law and practice remains in South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tank Day scandal was not an isolated misstep. Taken together with the Siren Class Mug promotion, it points to a pattern in which dates of national mourning were either ignored or, as critics allege, exploited deliberately.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Starbucks promotion did not emerge from a vacuum. It emerged from an organizational culture operating within a society where, for a meaningful segment of the population, the Gwangju events remain open to political reinterpretation. The speed with which fringe voices moved to defend the promotion, and the alacrity with which elected legislators amplified those voices, confirms that the far right\u2019s rehabilitation of the Chun era is not merely an online phenomenon confined to anonymous comment sections.<\/span><\/p>\n

The failed constitutional amendment, the persistent gap between law and practice, and the reflexive political cover offered to those who mocked victims on the anniversary of the massacre all point to the same conclusion: the wounds of May 1980 have never fully healed, and a vocal minority remains committed to ensuring they never do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit: Shutterstock On May 18, the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Starbucks Korea ran a tumbler promotion called \u201cTank Day.\u201d\u00a0 The promotional copy included the phrase \u201cBang on the Desk\u201d \u2013 a phrase instantly recognizable to any Korean adult as an echo of the police cover-up following the 1987 torture and death of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStarbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Credit: Shutterstock On May 18, the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Starbucks Korea ran a tumbler promotion called \u201cTank Day.\u201d\u00a0 The promotional copy included the phrase \u201cBang on the Desk\u201d \u2013 a phrase instantly recognizable to any Korean adult as an echo of the police cover-up following the 1987 torture and death of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Asia Newscast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ANC News Desk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ANC News Desk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ANC News Desk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2c9f588ee00d3b2b92133babac793e30\"},\"headline\":\"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544\"},\"wordCount\":1392,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544\",\"name\":\"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?p=544#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Asia Newscast\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Asia Newscast\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/anc-logo-v3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/anc-logo-v3.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":853,\"caption\":\"Asia Newscast\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2c9f588ee00d3b2b92133babac793e30\",\"name\":\"ANC News Desk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ANC News Desk\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/asianewscast.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asianewscast.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast","og_description":"Credit: Shutterstock On May 18, the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Starbucks Korea ran a tumbler promotion called \u201cTank Day.\u201d\u00a0 The promotional copy included the phrase \u201cBang on the Desk\u201d \u2013 a phrase instantly recognizable to any Korean adult as an echo of the police cover-up following the 1987 torture and death of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544","og_site_name":"Asia Newscast","article_published_time":"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ANC News Desk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ANC News Desk","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544"},"author":{"name":"ANC News Desk","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c9f588ee00d3b2b92133babac793e30"},"headline":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm","datePublished":"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544"},"wordCount":1392,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544","url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544","name":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm - Asia Newscast","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-26T03:32:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thediplomat_2026-05-25-215352-RS1jUo.jpg","width":600,"height":360},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=544#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Starbucks Korea\u2019s Tank Day Promotion on a Massacre Anniversary Causes a Political Firestorm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/","name":"Asia Newscast","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#organization","name":"Asia Newscast","url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/anc-logo-v3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/anc-logo-v3.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"caption":"Asia Newscast"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c9f588ee00d3b2b92133babac793e30","name":"ANC News Desk","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77de746d543b5ff4f56d09fd6ad80cbe60a27662c69f5f6c30f6ef847060400f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ANC News Desk"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/asianewscast.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}