On May 31 KST, NCT members Taeyong and Renjun seemingly made indirect references to the group's ongoing merchandise collaboration with 'Starbucks Korea'.

First, NCT's leader Taeyong wrote curtly via his Instagram story the words "boycott", leading to speculations that his words were directed toward the collaboration. 

Then, Renjun recently updated his Instagram story with the words "peace" and the following emojis. The emojis similarly seemed to refer to the NCT x 'Starbuck Korea' collaboration.

Meanwhile, the NCT x 'Starbucks Korea' collaboration launched on May 30 KST, introducing 3 limited edition menu items as well as various merchandise items.

Currently, many overseas fans, particularly in North America, are boycotting the global franchise 'Starbucks' for the brand's alleged support of Israel in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. When NCT announced the collaboration with 'Starbucks Korea', the group's North American fans voiced their disapproval, expressing their intentions to boycott the collaboration. 

However, many Korean fans are of the opinion that the political position held by 'Starbucks America' does not apply to 'Starbucks Korea' (SCK COMPANY Co., Ltd.), whose owner and largest shareholder is E-MART24 Inc., a subsidiary of Shinsegae Group. This means that 'Starbucks Korea' functions as a separate corporation from 'Starbucks America', although the two companies maintain licensing contracts which require 'Starbucks Korea' to pay 'Starbucks America' royalties for the usage of its brand name and logo. 

Some Korean netizens are now wondering if Taeyong and Renjun's Instagram accounts were "hacked", while others are criticizing the two NCT members for "violating a business contract".