"'Nallimyeon' Incident Deemed Harassment, US State Department Corrects Statement"

Annual Human Rights Report Expression Deleted
Content and Expression Judged Inappropriate

Regarding the 'profanity controversy' that arose during President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to New York last September, Yonhap News reported that the expression in the U.S. State Department's human rights report, which had pointed out this issue as 'violence and harassment,' has been corrected.

The State Department released its annual human rights report titled '2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' the day before. The Korea section of the report included a mention related to the 'profanity controversy' during President Yoon's New York visit.

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden are having a conversation after concluding the 7th Global Fund Replenishment Conference held on September 21, 2022 (local time) at a building in New York, USA. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The report stated, "After MBC released a video criticizing foreign legislative bodies by President Yoon, it mentioned that President Yoon could damage alliances and jeopardize national security."

Furthermore, the subtitle of the paragraph where this content was mentioned was labeled as 'Violence and Harassment.'

As a result, interpretations emerged within Korea that the U.S. State Department viewed the MBC profanity controversy as a case of 'violence and harassment.'

However, the next day, the phrase 'violence and harassment' was removed from the report.

The State Department reportedly explained that the subtitle and the description did not correspond appropriately, leading to the deletion of the expression.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Park Jin clarified at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee regarding the State Department human rights report, saying, "The report compiled and described content by quoting what non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other groups mentioned in media reports," and added, "It does not include evaluations of each issue or U.S. policy judgments, according to the U.S. State Department's explanation."

Meanwhile, on September 22 last year, President Yoon, while leaving an international conference venue in New York, USA, said, "If these XX in the National Assembly do not approve, what should I do, feeling embarrassed about OOO," and this was filmed by the press pool.

Some media outlets, including MBC, reported with subtitles that the 'OOO' part was 'Biden,' but the presidential office explained that voice analysis showed it was 'nallimyeon' (meaning 'if [they] remove it').