On the morning of the 22nd, Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate for the People’s Power, who was a keynote speaker at the press forum, was shown on TV live for 2 minutes due to a malfunction of the prompter (subtitle exposure device).
In passports such as Rep. Chung Cheong-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea, he increased the offensive by saying, “Male Park Geun-hye.” It reminded me of former President Park Geun-hye, who rushed to read the manuscript in a major speech in the past. It was also an attack that pointed out the fact that the ‘novice politician’ Yoon’s agility and sense were inferior to that of the Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung.
On the other hand, Kim Jae-won, the highest member of the People’s Power, said, “The candidates were not ready for each other because the prompter was not ready. In a way, I think the organizers of the event were a little neglectful.”
The event was the 9th Global Leaders Forum 2021 held by TV Chosun at the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul from the 22nd to the 23rd. It was an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the country. Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and People’s Strength presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol attended as keynote speakers, but Yoon’s silence contrasted with Lee, who was fluent, making it even more popular.
Candidate Yoon, who came on the stage, greeted the audience twice, looked at the prompter and remained silent for a while, and the announcer in the hall said, “I will prepare for the stage for a while. Please wait for a while.” Even after the announcement, Candidate Yoon stood up and looked only at the prompter in front of him.
The announcer said, “I would appreciate it if you start it,” but candidate Yoon did not speak easily as he looked around. When the speech was delayed, the announcer said, “I will adjust the audio for a moment. We would appreciate it if you could wait for a while,” and as if the prompter had just started working, candidate Yoon opened his mouth, “Shall we start?”
Regarding the live broadcast accident, “Yun Seok-yeol doesn’t know that he’s making a mistake” or “She has an accident even though she shuts her mouth with a false statement”, “Yun Seok-yeol’s supporters are amazing. If it were me, there would have been a vase,” and “Why is it the public’s share of shame that someone who can’t even say a word without a speech is a candidate?” Comments filled with criticism and ridicule. There was even a video that confirmed with a real stopwatch that it took about 80 seconds to hear Candidate Yoon’s greeting, “Dear citizens.”
As the controversy was not serious, TV Chosun, the organizer, also took action. YouTube has closed its forum relay video, and only posted clips of each candidate’s keynote speech. The replay service of the TV current affairs program ‘Shintongbangtong’ on the 22nd, which broadcast this speech live, has not been uploaded either.
On the 23rd, when asked whether the video was taken down at the request of Candidate Yoon, an official from TV Chosun’s press office emphasized that “there was no request.” According to TV Chosun, the prompter did not work properly in the forum, and there were mechanical deficiencies such as restarting the laptop connected to the prompter.
The official said, “It happened during the process of the event, and it was close to a mistake between us and the event agency. In the broadcast, ‘the starting point of the speech’ had to be clearly defined, and that’s why I asked ‘wait for a little bit’.”
He continued, “It was only during a live TV show. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if we had quickly caught the delays on site and moved the camera to the TV Chosun studio.”
The official said, “In the case of Candidate Jae-myung Lee, we asked for a manuscript for the speech as it was a live broadcast, but candidate Lee said that he would give an ad-lib speech without a manuscript, so in the end, only the manuscript for Candidate Yoon was prepared. It happened due to lack of preparation,” he said.
