When Yoon grabbed the microphone and delivered the first few lines, he received a standing ovation and loud applause from the audience.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday revealed that he was taken aback when asked to sing the 1971 hit by Don McLean, “American Pie”, at a state dinner at the White House last week but believes he delivered his rendition quite well.
During his six-day state visit to the US last week, Yoon attended the dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden, and close to the end of it, Biden asked Yoon to sing the song, one of the South Korean President’s favourites, reports Yonhap News Agency.
“When President Biden asked me to come up to the stage, I thought I would be given a guitar, but I was pretty taken aback when he asked me to sing,” Yoon said during a dinner meeting with the leadership of the ruling People Power Party.
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When Yoon grabbed the microphone and delivered the first few lines, he received a standing ovation and loud applause from the audience.
Biden then presented him with a guitar signed by McLean on behalf of the musician, who could not attend the dinner.
Just minutes before Yoon’s surprise performance, three Broadway singers gave music performances and sang a rendition of “American Pie”.
“As shown in pictures, I thought I sang very well, as singers from ‘Miss Saigon’ showed a surprising expression seeing me singing,” he said.
Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan agreed to resume their long-stalled Finance Ministers’ meeting “at an appropriate time this year” as the two countries gear up to normalise economic ties after several years of trade tensions.
Officials from Japan will visit South Korea next month to work out details of the meeting, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday citing the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and his Japanese counterpart, Shunichi Suzuki, on the sidelines of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Incheon.
“Japan and South Korea share common values, such as freedom and human rights,” Choo said ahead of the meeting.
“(As the two countries) consider the free trade and market system to be the key of their economic management, there are many areas in which the two governments and the private sectors can join forces.”
The Finance Minister said it is significant that South Korea and Japan have resumed shuttle diplomacy, or regular visits to each other’s countries by their leaders.
President Yoon Suk Yeol was the first South Korean president in 12 years to make a bilateral visit to Japan in March.
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