S. Korea leader halts Q&A amid media row

SEOUL: South Korea’s new president has suspended his routine morning question-and-answer sessions with journalists after squabbling with a broadcaster over coverage of his remarks caught on a hot mic in the United States.

Yoon had promised during his presidential election to improve communication with the public.

But on Monday, his office said “a recent unsavory incident” had led it to have determined that the Q&A session could not be maintained.

The “incident” referred to an altercation between one of Yoon’s aides and a MBC TV network reporter over the move to ban MBC crew from the media pool on his presidential plane flying to Cambodia and Indonesia for summits earlier this month.

MBC taped Yoon talking to his aides after a brief meeting with President Joe Biden in New York in September.

While some parts of the audio were unclear, Yoon could be heard using some indecent language.

MBC added subtitles reading: “Wouldn’t it be too darn embarrassing for Biden if those idiots at legislature don’t approve?”

Yoon has denied he referred to Biden or the US Congress.