A photo of President Yoon Seok-yeol with his eyes closed has been posted on the official website of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), sparking controversy. Among the photos of NATO and Asia-Pacific partner countries in the photo, President Yoon was the only one with his eyes closed.
On the 29th (local time), NATO’s official website showed that President Yun attended the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanage, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and others in the Asia-Pacific region. A photo taken with the four partner countries has been uploaded.
President Yoon was photographed alone with his eyes closed. This is an issue that can be criticized as diplomatic disrespect.
Controversy has arisen among netizens as an online community post stating that a picture of President Yoon closing his eyes alone has been uploaded to the NATO official website.
Many netizens responded with absurd reactions, saying, “Did NATO upload the official photo with this?” “The protocol team doesn’t work” and “I’m going crazy because I’m embarrassed.” There were also quite a few comments criticizing President Yoon, saying, “It’s a very dynamic 24 hours” and “It’s better than a no-look handshake.”
Meanwhile, online earlier, during the NATO summit schedule, there was a debate over the so-called ‘no-look handshake’ scene between US President Joe Biden and President Yoon at a dinner on the eve. The controversy arose through a video of the eve of the NATO summit hosted by King Felipe VI at the Royal Palace of Madrid.
The scene in question came from a conversation between world leaders before a group photo before the dinner. President Biden made brief eye contact with President Yoon as he walked to his seat and shook hands. However, as President Biden shook hands with President Yoon, his gaze was directed toward Bulgarian President Lumen Radev, and critics pointed out that it was a ‘no-look handshake’.