South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol overheard insulting U.S. Congress as ‘idiots’

“It might be so humiliating for Biden if these idiots don’t go it in Congress,” Yoon was overheard telling a bunch of aides as they left the occasion. Video of the alternate rapidly went viral in South Korea, the place Yoon took workplace in Might as a political rookie. He has by no means held elected workplace earlier than and lacks prior expertise in overseas coverage.

South Korea’s presidential workplace on Thursday denied that Yoon’s remarks have been focused at the USA. His spokeswoman mentioned Yoon didn’t point out Biden by identify and it was misheard for a similar-sounding phrase in Korean. Kim Eun-hye, the spokeswoman, additionally mentioned that Yoon was referring to South Korea’s parliament as a substitute of the U.S. Congress.

The justification Kim gave didn’t impress critics in Seoul. Park Hong-geun, ground chief of the opposition Democratic Occasion, referred to as it “an ill-founded excuse” by the presidential workplace attempting to cowl up a “diplomatic catastrophe.”

A spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Counsel mentioned in an announcement Thursday it could “not touch upon the new mic feedback.”

“Our relationship with the Republic of Korea is robust and rising,” the assertion mentioned. “President Biden counts President Yoon as a key ally. The 2 leaders had , productive assembly on the margins of the United Nations Normal Meeting yesterday.”

Yoon and Biden have been each in New York for the U.N. Normal Meeting, the place they held discussions on the sidelines Wednesday.

“The 2 leaders reaffirmed their dedication to strengthen the U.S.-ROK alliance and guarantee shut cooperation to deal with the menace posed by the Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the White Home mentioned in a readout of their assembly. “The Presidents additionally mentioned our ongoing cooperation on a broad vary of precedence points together with provide chain resilience, essential applied sciences, financial and power safety, international well being, and local weather change.”

The presidential assembly got here amid a rising commerce pressure between the allies over the Biden administration’s new guidelines on subsidies for electrical autos. The Inflation Discount Act signed by Biden will eradicate shopper tax credit for South Korean automakers with out operational EV vegetation in the USA.

“President Yoon requested for shut cooperation in order that the U.S. administration can resolve our issues within the technique of implementing the Inflation Discount Act,” Yoon’s workplace mentioned in an announcement.

Min Joo Kim reported from Seoul.