South Korea’s president causes a stir with cooking show cameo amid fire crisis

Opposition critics say Lee Jae-myung’s appearance was ‘inappropriate’ while essential digital services were crippled by a huge fire

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South Korean President Lee Jae-myung appears on television cooking show “Please Take Care of My Refrigerator”, which aired during Chuseok harvest festival on Monday days after a major fire had crippled the government’s online services. Photo: YouTube/JTBCentertainment

Published: 10:30am, 11 Oct 2025

South Korea’s Chuseok harvest festival, typically a time of national celebration, has been overshadowed by political mudslinging after President Lee Jae-myung’s appearance on a prime-time television cooking show coincided with a digital disaster that crippled the government’s online services.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the opposition People Power Party (PPP) have each accused the other of exploiting the incident for political gain in duelling defamation lawsuits.

At the heart of the dispute is Lee’s appearance on JTBC’s popular show Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, alongside first lady Kim Hye-kyung, just days after a fire at a government data centre paralysed hundreds of essential digital services, including tax and postal systems.

What could have been an opportunity to showcase Korean cuisine and culture has instead fuelled a fresh wave of political rancour in the bitterly divided country.

It has only poured fuel on the country’s intensifying political feud

Jhee Byong-kuen, political scientist

“It has only poured fuel on the country’s intensifying political feud, highlighting widening political fault lines,” said Jhee Byong-kuen, a professor of political science at South Korea’s Chosun University. “This political crisis shows no sign of abating.”

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