Professor Robert Kelly, the expert on South Korean politics whose interview on the BBCÂ was interrupted by his two young children, is now speaking out after the interview footage went viral.
In the initial interview, Kelly was attempting to speak about South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, who had recently been ousted. However, he was completely unstaged when his daughter, Marion, came dancing into the room, followed shortly afterward by her baby brother in his walker.
Kelly’s wife, Jung-a Kim, then arrived to drag the kids back out of the room as Kelly tried to keep his focus on the interview and the camera, unsuccessfully.
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Kelly told the Wall Street Journal that he knew the interview was doomed when Marion arrived: “As soon as she opened the door I saw her image on my screen. She was in a hippity-hoppity mood that day because of the school party.” Then little James toddled in, and, “I knew it was over.”
He went on to say that his feelings about the interview had morphed from “surprise and embarrassment” to “amusement” and finally “love and affection.”
“It was terribly cute. I saw the video like everybody else and it’s really funny,” he said.
“It happens all the time but not like this. This was the first time it happened during an interview,” his wife added.
