Youn Kun-young Claims a Presidential “Q&A Rehearsal” Is Unheard of and Asks, “Was It Staged?”

President Yoon Suk-yeol presides over the first town hall meeting on state tasks at the state guest house in Cheongwadae on December 15. Office of the President press photographers

On December 20, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Youn Kun-young responded to a video of a presidential town hall meeting rehearsal--the actual meeting was aired live--and said, “I have never seen a so-called Q&A rehearsal anywhere.”

Democratic Party lawmaker Youn, who served as the chief of the Cheongwadae information and policy monitoring office in the Moon Jae-in government, appeared on the MBC radio show, Kim Jong-bae’s Focus, and mentioned President Yoon’s town hall meeting and recalled that town hall meetings were held in the Moon Jae-in government as well. Then he said, “The situation raises reasonable suspicions that the questions were asked according to a script.”

Youn continued and said, “Usually, when it comes to town hall meetings, a rehearsal is absolutely necessary,” and added, “For example, a moderator rehearsal and a camera rehearsal are a must, but I have never heard of a Q&A rehearsal, where people rehearse their questions and answers.”

Youn claimed, “In the Moon Jae-in government, we entrusted the broadcasting company with the production of the town hall meetings, and they never handed out the questions prior to the meeting,” and pointed out, “But this time, the Office of the President produced the meeting. What’s more, they themselves admitted that the people asking the questions were recommended by government ministries.”

As for the presidential office expressing regret on how YTN released the rehearsal footage, the Democratic Party lawmaker said, “They (Office of the President) should first give an answer to such reasonable suspicions instead of distracting the people with secondary issues like the release of the video footage.”

YTN created a video clip with scenes from a prior rehearsal of President Yoon’s first town hall meeting, which was aired live on December 15. The news company broadcast the video the following day, but later deleted it. On December 19, the Office of the President said, “YTN used test footage without permission and maliciously edited it as if it was a pre-planned event” and expressed regret. YTN also expressed regret on the footage in question and began discussions for disciplinary measures.