"Satire is a Right"... SNL Parodies Yoon Administration's 'Silencing'

Kwon Hyuk-soo Dragged Out for Interrupting President's Song
Yoon's Satirical Remarks During Candidacy Revisited

Coupang Play's comedy show 'SNL Korea' featured a satirical 'mouth-covering' scene mocking the excessive security controversy surrounding the Yoon Seok-yeol administration at the KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) graduation ceremony in Daejeon last month.

In the first episode of SNL Korea Season 5 aired on the afternoon of the 2nd, Kim Min-kyo, dressed as President Yoon Seok-yeol, said, "105 years ago, our ancestors launched the March 1st Movement with a belief in freedom," adding, "In conclusion, nothing should harm the spirit of that freedom. Satire is SNL's right, so we will continue to allow it freely. I wanted to say this."

A satirical scene of 'Ipteulmak' appeared in the first episode of Coupang Play's 'SNL Korea' Season 5 on the 2nd.
[Photo by SNL Korea broadcast capture]

This recalled when President Yoon, as a presidential candidate in October 2021, appeared on SNL Korea's 'Reporter Joo Goes' segment, where Joo Hyun-young asked, "Will you help SNL freely satirize politics?" and he replied, "That's not helping; it's SNL's right."

The broadcast also included a parody of the so-called 'mouth-covering incident.' Actors reenacted President Yoon singing the song "Uriui Sarangi Piryohaneun Geojyo" ("Our Love Is Needed") by singer Byun Jin-sub with presidential office staff during last Lunar New Year.

During this, when Kwon Hyuk-soo began to show off his singing skills with high notes, an actor dressed as a security guard covered his mouth and dragged him out the door.

Kwon Hyuk-soo shouted, "Let go, let go! Please let me ad-lib," as he disappeared. Kim Min-kyo, playing President Yoon, and other cast members calmly finished the song.

At the KAIST graduation ceremony on the 16th, when President Yoon said in his congratulatory speech, "To make a quantum leap as a science powerhouse, we will significantly expand the research and development (R&D) budget," Shin Min-ki, spokesperson for the Green Party Daejeon City Party and a graduate at the time, shouted, "Stop boasting and restore the R&D budget."

Spokesperson Shin was then escorted out with his mouth covered and limbs lifted by security guards present at the scene.

Last month, Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Pediatric Society, was denied entry to a medical reform public discussion chaired by the president at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital and was escorted out with his mouth covered by security staff.

Earlier in January, Kang Sung-hee, a Progressive Party lawmaker, shook hands with President Yoon at the Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province inauguration ceremony and asked him to "change the national policy direction," only to be dragged out by security guards.