Yoon's 'Blank Screen and White Paper' Work Setup Photo Controversy... Presidential Office Repeatedly Explains "For Security Reasons"

The Spokesperson's Office Said the Day Before, "Taken Right After Approval When the Screen Disappeared"

The Presidential Office released 12 photos the day before, describing them as 'various moments' captured during President Yoon Seok-yeol's visit to Spain. / Photo by the Presidential Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Controversy has intensified over so-called "staged shots" after photos were released showing President Yoon Suk-yeol either looking at a blank approval screen or holding a blank sheet of paper while working during his visit to Spain to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. The Presidential Office actively explained that "for security reasons, the content the president was viewing was deliberately excluded from the photos."

A Presidential Office official explained at a briefing held at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 4th, "When we release photos of President Yoon, we make efforts to ensure that no content on the monitors or documents the president is viewing is visible in the photos," citing security reasons.

He added, "Therefore, sometimes we capture blank monitors, or papers with minimal writing, only disclosing what is permissible. If any materials appear in the photos, we apply blurring. We take such precautions when releasing photos," he said.

The official further stated, "It is regrettable to distort this as a show. We have taken these precautions carefully," reiterating the explanation.

The Presidential Office also released 12 additional photos related to President Yoon’s visit to Spain the previous day, including images showing him glancing at the computer screen on his desk with his hand lightly resting on the mouse. The Presidential Office announced that these were taken on the morning of the 28th of last month, the second day of the visit, after a staff meeting while preparing for the NATO summit.

At that time, the screen was essentially blank, leading to criticism that the pose was staged solely for the photo.

As the staged shot controversy spread online, the spokesperson’s office explained the previous day, "The blank monitor screen in the photo was taken immediately after the president approved the agenda of the Cabinet meeting on site, at which point the screen had disappeared," and added, "We hope there will be no misunderstandings regarding the photo."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.