White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has gone viral for fumbling a response about the South Korean presidential election.
Leavitt was speaking to reporters during a press briefing Tuesday when she was asked for the U.S. response to Lee Jae-myung winning the South Korean election.
“Does the White House have a reaction to the election in South Korea?” Jeff Mason of Reuters asked.
Highlights
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went viral after fumbling a response on South Korea's presidential election results.
- Leavitt first claimed the White House had a reaction, then admitted they did not have an official statement ready.
- Social media criticized Leavitt’s response as a sign of the current administration’s lack of preparedness.
- South Korea's snap election followed the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol amid protests and allegations of abuse.
- New President Lee Jae-myung vowed to unite South Korea and maintain strong U.S.-South Korea military ties.
Karoline Leavitt did not have a prepared answer for the South Korean election results
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“Yes, we do. Let me find it here for you,” Leavitt responded. “It should be somewhere in here.”
After shuffling through her papers with no luck, she told Mason: “Um, we do not, but I will get you one.”
The clip quickly gained attention on social media, with some comparing Leavitt’s response to Trump’s take on U.S. foreign policy.
“Karoline saying ‘we do’ and then immediately following it with ‘we do not’ is the most honest accidental summary of this administration’s foreign policy: confused, unprepared, and trying to fake it with a binder full of nothing,” one person wrote.
Republicans against Trump described the footage as a “total clown show.”
“Bold of them to admit they have nothing to say about a key ally’s democratic election,” another person added.
“What in the world kind of response is that,” one user asked. “Let's just laugh off pure incompetence.”
“When she gets a question that requires her to give an answer that doesn’t involve praising Trump or trashing Biden, she’s got nothing,” one person said.
Image credits: The White House
Leavitt’s response comes after liberal Lee secured victory in South Korea’s snap presidential election.
Ousted leader Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by parliament on December 14 after attempting to declare martial law on December 3.
While he said the move was to protect the country from “anti-state” forces that sympathized with North Korea, it came amid escalating nationwide protests and growing calls for his resignation.
The protests were sparked by allegations of abuse of power, suppression of dissent, and mishandling of key policy issues.
Lee Jae-myung vowed to unite his people after winning the South Korean election
Image credits: Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images
His administration claimed the move was necessary to maintain public order and national security, but critics saw it as an unconstitutional power grab aimed at silencing opposition and avoiding impeachment.
Protests and civil unrest intensified due to the attempt and Yoon was impeached, which triggered a snap election.
In his inaugural address, Lee pledged to “unite the people” and said he would end “the politics of division.”
He spoke of the U.S.-South Korea military alliance and said it was a “strong deterrence” to aggression from North Korea, but vowed to respond to any provocation.
Image credits: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
He added that Seoul would “open channels of communication and pursue dialogue and cooperation with the North to build lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Lee secured the presidency with 49.42% of the vote, while his opponent, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, received 41.15%, according to the National Election Commission’s final count.
It was also the highest turnout for a presidential election since 1997, with 79.4% of voters casting their ballots.