"Address to the Nation? More Like Address to the Nae-mun"... Flood of Criticism Over 2-Minute Speech

President Yoon's Brief Statement Faces Doubts Over Sincerity
"Cup Ramen Wasn't Even Cooked" "Saw the Ad and It Ended" Reactions Too

President Yoon Suk-yeol issued a public apology in a national address on the morning of the 7th, four days after declaring martial law, but netizens are criticizing the brief address, which lasted less than two minutes, doubting its sincerity.

At 10 a.m. on the 7th, President Yoon held a national address at the briefing room of the Yongsan Presidential Office. He bowed his head and said, "This declaration of martial law stemmed from the desperation of the president as the ultimate person responsible for state affairs. However, in the process, we caused anxiety and inconvenience to the people. I sincerely apologize to all citizens who were greatly shocked."

On the 7th, the day of the vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Seok-yeol, citizens are watching President Yoon's national address in the waiting room of Seoul Station. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

He continued, "I will not evade legal or political responsibility related to this martial law declaration," and emphasized, "There are talks that martial law might be invoked again, but there will never be a second martial law." Finally, President Yoon said, "To the people, I entrust the future political stability measures, including my term, to our party," adding, "The future administration will be jointly responsible by our party and the government. I once again bow my head and apologize for causing concern to the people."

Following President Yoon’s national address, reactions on social networking services (SNS) and online communities mainly expressed that the president’s speech, which was only about 500 characters and 2 minutes and 3 seconds long, lacked sincerity. On X (formerly Twitter), keywords such as 'national address' and 'address content' even trended in real time.

Netizens mocked the address with comments like, "It’s not a national address, it’s a national 'dam wada' (a pun implying nonsense)," "Since when did a national address become a 2-minute short video," "I watched a YouTube ad and by the time I got in, the address was over," and "Even cup noodles didn’t finish cooking."

The full text of President Yoon's national address transferred as a KakaoTalk message. X (formerly Twitter)

In particular, some pointed out how short the address was by comparing it to the free version length limit for video uploads on X and the 'View More' feature in KakaoTalk messages. One netizen mocked, "The free version on X allows a maximum video length of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. If it exceeds 2 minutes and 20 seconds, it gets cut off, but the national address was uploaded without being cut." Another noted that in KakaoTalk, when a message is long, you have to press 'View More' to see the entire text, but the full text of the national address can be pasted into a KakaoTalk message and viewed all at once without pressing 'View More,' saying, "You can feel how short the address is," and criticized it as "insincere."

Other criticisms included, "How many people have been struggling for days because of him, and he calls less than 2 minutes an apology," "If you apologized like this to a friend, you’d be cut off," and "Even 10 minutes of deep remorse wouldn’t be enough, but only 2 minutes is too little." However, some netizens viewed the address positively, saying, "It was short and concise, which is good," and "He didn’t make pathetic excuses and only conveyed the core message."

Meanwhile, the National Assembly will first hold a re-vote on the 'Special Investigation Act for Mrs. Kim Geon-hee' at the plenary session at 5 p.m. that day, followed by a vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon.