With "Pitiful" "Massive Broadcast Accident"... Yoon's '2-Minute Silence' Fiercely Criticized

Yoon Looks Around and Clears Throat as Teleprompter Fails During Live Broadcast

On the 22nd, Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, attended the Global Leaders Forum 2021 held at Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. During the live broadcast, a mishap occurred when the teleprompter stopped working, causing nearly two minutes of silence. / Video=TV Chosun YouTube

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] During a live broadcast, People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol experienced an incident where the teleprompter malfunctioned, causing about two minutes of silence. Meanwhile, ruling party figures launched an offensive, saying, "He can't say a single word without the teleprompter."

On the morning of the 22nd, Yoon took the podium to deliver the keynote speech at the 'Global Leaders Forum 2021' held at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

However, the teleprompter did not work, and he was seen looking around or clearing his throat without starting the speech. Eventually, after about two minutes, the teleprompter began working, and Yoon started his speech.

The ruling party immediately poured criticism on Yoon. Kim Sang-hee, co-chair of the election campaign committee for Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, posted on Facebook, "Candidate Yoon Seok-yeol cannot say a single word without the teleprompter. It's pitiful."

Baek Hye-ryun, a senior member of the Democratic Party, also shared related articles and criticized, saying, "It's unbelievable that someone who can't even give a speech without a teleprompter is a presidential candidate."

Former lawmaker Choi Min-hee labeled Yoon's silence as a "major broadcasting accident," sarcastically commenting, "Yoon Seok-yeol was blank for 1 minute and 30 seconds. The teleprompter didn't come up. It's like a male Park Geun-hye. Surrounded by Choi Soon-sil everywhere."

Regarding this, Yoon's side explained that they were waiting for the host's instructions on how to proceed during the unexpected situation in the live broadcast and countered that the Democratic Party was making personal attacks against Yoon.

Lee Yang-su, chief spokesperson of the People Power Party's Central Election Committee, stated in a notice that "the teleprompter did not operate during Yoon's speech, and the candidate was unaware of the reason and was waiting for normalization," adding, "Since it was a live broadcast, it was common sense and natural to wait for the host's instructions on how to proceed during the unexpected situation."

He continued, "The Democratic Party is instead making personal attacks on Candidate Yoon and politically exploiting the situation," and said, "It was a technical error that caused the delay, and the claim that the person invited to the event should take responsibility and handle it is unreasonable."