President Yoon Suk Yeol had his first press conference in 631 days on Thursday, but the general assessment seems disappointed, with many reporters at the event saying it wasn’t worth the wait, particularly regarding diplomacy and foreign affairs.During the 70-minute question-and-answer session of the press conference, Yoon took four questions related to foreign affairs. Presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung gave chances only to four foreign correspondents, dismissing dozens of reporters from domestic news outlets who raised their hands desperately, and moved on to the next question category.There was no pre-arranged notice to the press corps covering the presidential office, nor a process of asking reporters from domestic news outlets to understand the time constraints. The spokesperson smoothly picked correspondents from Reuters, BBC, AFP and Nikkei without hesitation, as if it was obvious that only foreign correspondents would get the chance to ask questions on foreign affairs.When Yoon finished his press conference and exchanged handshakes with attending reporters, this reporter made a small and diffident complaint to him — while remembering previous cases of presidential security dragging out those making intimidating gestures toward Yoon.
“It seems a little odd to take foreign affairs-related questions only from foreign correspondents,” this reporter said, while shaking hands cautiously with Yoon. The president smiled and replied: “Maybe we can do it again later.”It is obvious for the president to take questions from foreign correspondents, and natural for the presidential aides to expect that foreign news outlets would focus on diplomatic issues. Former presidents also answered foreign correspondents’ questions during press conferences, but they did not exclude domestic news outlets from the chance to ask questions on diplomatic matters.During the press conference, foreign correspondents asked questions on international matters that involve South Korea, such as how Yoon will negotiate with Washington over sharing the costs for United States Forces Korea in case of Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election, what will be the “red line” in South Korea’s relations with Russia, and how he will shape Seoul’s relations with Japan.Though the questions were about timely matters of international interest, they do not include South Koreans’ perspective of wondering how Yoon should navigate global 카지노사이트킹 geopolitical upheavals to protect the country’s interests.