On November 21, 1998, US Presidents Clinton and Bill, together with their younger singer brothers Clinton and Roger, wave to attendees who give a standing ovation at the KBS open air concert ‘Korea-US Friendship Concert’ recorded at Center Sejong for the Performing Arts ./Chosun Ilbo DB
<연재를 시작하며> After joining the Chosun Ilbo, he served as a reporter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of the diplomatic and security team, Washington-Tokyo correspondent, head of the international department, editorial writer, and head of the political department at TV Chosun, covering the field of diplomacy and security for 25 years. Based on our past experience and network, we will report on issues covered behind the scenes in the diplomatic and security fields.
Did you know that the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, appeared on the popular program ‘KBS Open Concert’, which is broadcast every Sunday, to encourage his younger brother, an unknown singer? The KBS Open Concert, which began in 1993, has recorded 1,472 performances in April, and it is unprecedented for a sitting US president to appear on the recording site without any notice.
On Saturday, November 21, 1998, when I was working as a social affairs reporter, I received an order from the desk. We have received information that President Clinton, who is visiting Korea, will appear in the recording of the KBS Open Concert held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, so we ask you to report it. To coincide with Clinton’s visit to Korea, KBS held a ‘Friendship Concert for Korea-US friendship’ and invited his younger brother, Roger Clinton. The news network of this newspaper captured the fact that Roger, who visited Korea before his brother, told the person in charge of his Korean itinerary, “My brother decided to come and see my performance after the summit with President Kim Dae-jung.”
Roger is actually an unknown singer who is not widely known in the United States, but for the sake of Korea-US relations, public broadcaster KBS gave him special treatment. Clinton is famous for loving her half brother Roger very much. The Clinton brothers’ close relationship is described in his autobiography, ‘My Life.’ Kim Dae-jung’s government started human and material exchange between North and South Korea, which had been taboo before, through the Hyundai Group, and Roger’s appearance can be said to be designed to win Clinton’s favor.
Anyway, my job that day was to cover Clinton’s appearance at the KBS Open Concert and report it before the deadline for the local edition. The department sent photographs to reporter Chae Seung-woo. However, when I checked with the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, a visit to the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts was not included in Clinton’s itinerary. Since a summit and dinner with President Kim Dae-jung were scheduled until late that night, reporters reacted skeptically, asking, “Will Clinton have time to go there?” I watched the show on Saturday night, grumbling about the ‘extended broadcast’ while still wondering, “Is Clinton really coming?” (At that time, the Sunday paper was published.)
The open concert, which started around 8 pm, was a lively event with the US Forces Korean military band and the Samulnori company also appearing. Roger appeared and sang several pop songs. I found out that one of the songs he sang was Shaky Around through an announcement from the Blue House the next day. Roger also sang ‘Proud Mary’, which was translated into ‘Watermill Life’ in Korea, together with Insooni and Cho Young-nam.
I started to get worried because the concert didn’t end even though it was past 10pm. “The article in the city edition is expected soon… .” At that time, Roger, who had been singing several songs in a row, spoke to the audience at around 10:40. “Today is the happiest day of my life. “Introducing my brother, President Clinton.”
Then, President Clinton appeared next to the stage, surrounded by about 30 aides and bodyguards, and walked towards the audience. A shout of “Wow” erupted from the audience. The audience gave a unanimous applause.
President Kim Dae-jung and US President Bill Clinton toast before having dinner at the Blue House hotel on the evening of November 21, 1988. / Yonhap News
Clinton hugged her younger brother Roger tightly at the waist. He also waved his hand vigorously to the audience. Clinton then waved to the members of the orchestra behind the stage and went to the side of the stage. After listening to his brother sing for about another 10 minutes, he returned to his accommodation.
When we covered the situation the next day, we learned that Clinton’s visit to the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts had not been discussed with us in advance. After the summit lunch with President Kim Dae-jung ended after 10 pm that day, Clinton suddenly said, “I want to go to the place where my brother appears.” The President of the United States said he was going to see his brother, but we couldn’t stop him. Clinton’s ‘unexpected behaviour’ was a great embarrassment to our government officials. The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts was heavily targeted because there was no security system in place in preparation for the visit of the President of the United States.
If Clinton’s visit had been planned even in secret, security could not have been so lax that day. In my experience, the most difficult reporting in the world is covering events involving the President of the United States. As I have experienced many times as a Washington correspondent, if you want to attend a presidential event in the US, your identity must be verified beforehand. You will have to go through security checks several times on site. But on this day, there were none of these procedures. Maybe that’s why Clinton came on stage with bodyguards. This happened 26 years ago, at a time when the scales of Korean-US relations were heavily tilted towards the United States.
[P.S.]
#1 On this day, I was sitting at the back of the stage, and when Clinton came out to the center of the stage, I ran to the front to get a closer look. At that time, Clinton’s security guards were all glaring at me and stopped immediately when they saw that their right hands could be seen going inside their suits. This is because I am very worried that I could be accused of being a murderer and be shot.
#2 I ran at full speed from the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts to the editorial office of the Chosun Ilbo to publish an article about the Clinton brothers in the downtown edition of the Chosun Ilbo, which closes around midnight. I remember it took about 3 minutes. Reporter Chae Seung-woo captured the scene of Clinton putting his right hand around Roger’s shoulder and shaking his left hand, and passed it on to the editorial department. This article was published in this paper only the following day. A special broadcast of the KBS Open Concert was broadcast in the afternoon and evening of the 22nd when this paper’s report was published.
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