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Lee, PPP feud over president's appearance on cooking show after gov't server fire

Published: 08 Oct. 2025, 19:34 Updated: 09 Oct. 2025, 13:27

President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung appeared on JTBC's variety show ″Please Take Care of My Refrigerator″ in an episode that aired on Oct. 6. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Days after a fire crippled Korea’s national data systems, President Lee Jae Myung found himself at the center of a political storm — not over his government’s response, but over his appearance on a TV cooking show.

The controversy erupted when Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung appeared on the JTBC variety program "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator." The episode, filmed earlier, aired Monday, 10 days after a blaze broke out at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) data center in Daejeon. The television network is an affiliate of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The fire began around 8:20 p.m. on Sept. 26. Lee returned from the UN General Assembly that evening. The fire was brought under control the next morning. Two days later, on Sept. 28, Lee chaired a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting at 5:30 p.m.

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) accused the president of reacting too slowly.

“The president stayed quiet for two days without visiting the site or holding a meeting. These are 48 lost hours,” Rep. Joo Jin-woo said Friday.

The presidential office dismissed that as false. On Saturday, it released Lee’s detailed schedule: his return flight, a 10:50 a.m. emergency meeting on Sept. 28, the variety show recording later that day, and the disaster meeting that evening.

Still, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok questioned Lee’s priorities.

“What was the president thinking, filming a variety show in the middle of a national disaster? The story about his 48 hours is a lie,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

Ahn Min-seok, a former lawmaker of the Democratic Party, questions former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-chun about then-President Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts during the seven hours of the Sewol ferry disaster at the second parliamentary hearing on the Choi Soon-sil influence-peddling scandal at the National Assembly on Dec. 7, 2016. [JOONGANG ILBO]

A presidential office official said the appearance was planned as part of a broader cultural diplomacy initiative.

“Starting with the launch of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange on Oct. 1 and leading up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, the president has been promoting K-culture as part of national policy,” the official said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok also defended Lee.

“The president must juggle many roles at once. Managing trade negotiations with the United States, overseeing data restoration efforts and promoting K-food abroad are all part of his job,” Kim wrote on Facebook.

But as partisan attacks intensified, the original purpose of Lee’s appearance was overshadowed.

The ruling Democratic Party filed a criminal complaint against PPP Rep. Jang on Tuesday, accusing him of defamation by spreading false information. The PPP responded the next day, calling the move an attempt to silence dissent and said it was considering a countersuit for false accusation.

“They are trying to gag the leader of the main opposition party for raising legitimate questions,” the PPP said in a statement.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol visits a multi-household home in Sillim-dong, Gwanak District, Seoul, on Aug. 9, 2022, where three members of a family were killed in heavy overnight rain, and listens to a briefing at the site. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

PPP floor leader Song Eon-seog also criticized Lee on Facebook.

“While a Ministry of the Interior and Safety official was driven to death by overwork and stress, the president was laughing on a TV show,” he wrote.

Rep. Joo further compared the situation to June 2021, when then-Gyeonggi Gov. Lee appeared on a YouTube show about tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) with food critic Hwang Kyo-ik while a fire raged at a Coupang warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi. “It's the same as 'Please Take Care of My Refrigerator,'” Joo said.

Lee Jun-han, a professor of political science at Incheon National University, said the controversy reflects a longstanding pattern.

“During every major disaster — from the Sewol ferry tragedy [in 2014] to the flooding in the greater Seoul area [in 2022] — rival parties have switched sides and waged battles over the president’s actions, not policy,” Lee said. “It shows the current level of political discourse," he criticized.

Lee Hyun-woo, a political science professor at Sogang University, echoed the sentiment.

“Extreme partisanship and deep mistrust of national leaders push debates away from substantive issues like disaster recovery, and toward sensational questions about the president’s movements or TV appearances,” the Sogang professor said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON KOOK-HEE [[email protected]]