In South Korea, even your cup of Starbucks could be too political

Walk into any Starbucks in South Korea right now, and there are some names you definitely won't be hearing.

Six to be exact - and they happen to be the names of the candidates running in the presidential race.

That's because Starbucks has temporarily blocked customers who are ordering drinks from using these names, which would be called out by baristas.

The company said it needed to "maintain political neutrality during election season", adding that this would be lifted after the election on 3 June.

South Korean businesses and celebrities usually strive to be seen as neutral. But it has become more crucial in recent months, as political turmoil triggered by former president Yoon Suk Yeol left the country more divided than ever.

Now, as South Korea gears up to pick its new president following Yoon's impeachment, even the most mundane things can become politicised - a lesson Starbucks has learnt the hard way.

In recent months, it has seen an increasing number of customers ordering drinks through their app and keying in phrases such as "arrest Yoon Suk Yeol" or "[opposition leader] Lee Jae-myung is a spy" as their nicknames.

Starbucks baristas had little choice but to yell out these names once the drinks were ready for collection.

"Our goal is to make sure every customer has a great experience in our coffeehouses," Starbucks said in a statement about its new move to ban the six presidential candidates' names.

"To help with that, we sometimes block certain phrases that could be misunderstood by our employees or customers — like names of political candidates with messages of or opposition during election season to maintain neutrality."

But this marks the first time it has banned the names of all the candidates running in an election. Besides Lee, the other names are Kim Moon-soo, Lee Jun-seok, Kwon Young-kook, Hwang Kyo-ahn and Song Jin-ho.

Some think the coffee giant is taking things a bit too far.

"I think people are being too sensitive. What if your real name is the same as a candidate's":[]}