| President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to reporters as he arrives for work at the presidential office in Seoul two days after he returned home from a three-nation swing that brought him to Britain, the United States and Canada, Sept. 26. Yonhap |
President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that untrue media reports of his remarks caught on hot mic damaged Korea's alliance with the United States in his first response to the controversy.
Last week, Yoon was caught on video making a remark privately to aides in New York that appeared to include vulgar words. Though the recording was not clear, many thought Yoon was talking about U.S. Congress and U.S. President Joe Biden
But Yoon's office later rejected the claim, stressing that he made no mention of U.S. Congress or Biden and that he was referring to how he would be embarrassed if Korea's opposition-controlled National Assembly rejected the $100 million he pledged to contribute to the Global Fund.
"Damaging the alliance with untrue media reports would be putting people in danger," Yoon told reporters, adding that how such incorrect reports have circulated should be clearly verified. (Yonhap)