British Prime Minister gave a warm handshake to an interpreter before betraying he’d realised his mistake as the actual South Korean President walked in behind him.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom got himself into a mix-up at the G7 summit in Canada on Wednesday as he apparently misinterpreted a smartly dressed bespectacled South Korean gentleman — reportedly an interpreter — for President Lee Jae-myung, also a smartly dressed bespectacled South Korean gentleman.
It might easily have been thought that Starmer was merely showing respect to the presidential aide, except as the actual President of South Korea entered, he exclaimed a tell-tale “ahh!” and laughed as he appeared to have realised what had happened.
The two leaders then spent time fussing as neither could seemingly decide which seat they wanted in front of their respective national flags, each offering the other to sit down and refusing in turn.
Despite the video evidence of the awkward moments, The Sun newspaper cites a government source who insisted the claims that a mix-up had occurred are “false”.
Given conditions in South Korean politics, you could feel sympathy for not immediately recognising President Lee Jae-myung on sight. The G7 meeting is his global political debut, the first foreign trip after he was sworn in as President just two weeks ago after a remarkable constitutional crisis that saw the country churn through five Presidents in just six months.
All being well, Lee’s Presidential term is set to last five years.
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