In a video revealed by South Korean tv broadcaster MBC on its official YouTube channel on Thursday, Yoon might be seen strolling alongside the stage after chatting with Biden earlier than turning to his aides and talking.
“It could be so embarrassing for Biden if these f***ers on the Nationwide Meeting do not approve this [bill],” he then seems to say.
The World Fund is a global group making an attempt to defeat HIV, TB and malaria throughout the growing world and Yoon’s comment seems to be a reference to Biden’s pledge to contribute $6 billion, which might require Congress approval.
The YouTube clip — which has not but been taken down — has been considered greater than 4 million occasions because it was uploaded and drawn tens of 1000’s of feedback.
Many social media customers have taken to mocking Yoon, whereas the expletive he used has develop into a well-liked search time period on the South Korean on-line portal Naver.
That is simply the newest in what critics say is sequence of diplomatic miss-steps by Yoon, who arrived in New York this week for the United Nations Normal Meeting after attending the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II in London.
Whereas in London, Yoon’s opponents accused him of disrespect as a result of he missed the possibility to view the queen’s coffin mendacity in state — which he blamed on heavy site visitors.
Final month, he got here below hearth for failing to satisfy US Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she visited South Korea as a part of a tour of Asia.
Following what seems to be his newest international coverage gaffe, Yoon’s crew have gone on the defensive.
In a background briefing with reporters, a high-ranked official for the South Korean Presidential Workplace stated the comment was “a personal remark” and it was “inappropriate to attach a personal remark to a diplomatic final result.”
The official additionally stated that “it was regrettable” Yoon was being criticized whereas maintaining with “a tricky schedule for the advantage of nationwide curiosity.”
“There isn’t any cause for him to talk about the US right here,” Kim Eun-hye, Yoon’s senior press secretary, stated in a separate briefing, reiterating that many individuals appeared to have “misheard” his phrases.
Again in Seoul, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo addressed the difficulty at a Nationwide Meeting session on Thursday, saying it was “unclear” what Yoon had really stated.
“I do not suppose I could make a transparent conclusion right here in regards to the circumstances wherein he stated these phrases… however it appears that evidently nobody has clearly heard the content material,” Han stated.
His remarks weren’t misplaced on members of the opposition liberal get together who commented on the difficulty at Thursday’s Nationwide Meeting.
“Diplomatic disasters are recurring below the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and that is because of the repeated diplomatic incompetence of the President,” they stated.
