Only conservative at UN? S. Korean said world body must ‘defend freedom’ of each individual in all nations

by WorldTribune Staff, September 23, 2022

It has been an eventful week at the United Nations for South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol, one of the few conservatives to win a presidency anywhere in the world this year.

In a speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Yoon invoked the word “freedom” 18 times, according to an official English language transcript.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. / Video Image

On Wednesday, Yoon was caught on a hot mic making profane references to both Joe Biden and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress.

While other heads of state addressed international crises and grievances, Yoon on Tuesday made clear his definition of freedom in remarks once universally accepted but now at odds with the globalist consensus of unelected elites and bureaucrats.

“When freedom of any individual in a nation comes under threat, members of the community must join hands to remove the threat and defend freedom,” Yoon said. “Likewise, when freedom of any citizen or nation in the global community is in peril, it is the community of nations that must stand together in solidarity to defend that freedom.”

Yoon continued:

“Genuine freedom is not just being free from the shackles but having opportunities to live life to the fullest with dignity. Genuine peace is not an absence of war but removing conflict and enmity that hold back shared progress of humanity and building the foundation for greater prosperity.

“Genuine freedom and peace can turn into reality when we are free from disease and hunger, free from illiteracy and free from want of energy and culture.”

Yoon notably did not mention the South’s 70-year-old war with North Korea and growing nuclear tensions with the country, tensions that appeared to worsen when Yoon offered an economic cooperation plan and North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-Un’s sister, Kim Yo-Jong, told him to “shut his mouth.”

During his inauguration earlier this year, Yoon also spoke on the meaning and value of freedom, urging Koreans “must clearly define – and unequivocally reaffirm – the real meaning of freedom. Human history shows that when political and economic freedom reigns supreme, that is where prosperity and abundance flourished. When prosperity and economic freedom flourishes, that is when freedom reaches even the darkest corners,”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Yoon’s hot mic moment came after Biden had pledged $6 billion at the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria worldwide, but the funding would have to be approved by Congress, the Daily Caller reported.

“With bipartisan support in our Congress, I have pledged to contribute up to $6 billion to that effort,” Biden said. “So I look forward to welcoming a historic round of pledges at the conference resulting in one of the largest global health fundraisers ever held in all of history.”

Citing the South China Morning Post, Fox News reported that Yoon asked his aides on a hot mic: “How could Biden not lose damn face if these f—ers do not pass it in Congress?”

“It would be so humiliating for Biden if these idiots don’t pass it in Congress,” Yoon also said as he left the event, according to The Washington Post.


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