US President Joe Biden (L) hands South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol a guitar signed by US singer Don McLean as a gift during a State Dinner with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2023. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
WASHINGTON—From discussing nuclear war to belting out a beloved hit: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s White House visit ended on a high note when he sang Don McLean’s “American Pie” to great applause.
Yoon is on a six-day state visit to Washington, where he discussed with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday “the end” of any North Korean regime that used nuclear weapons against the allies.
READ: Biden to pledge steps to deter nuclear attack on South Korea -officials
But the two leaders had more cheerful topics on the agenda at the White House state dinner in Yoon’s honor later that day, with the South Korean leader—who is known at home to be something of a karaoke buff—sharing his love of American music.
“We know this is one of your favorite songs, ‘American Pie,’” Biden said to Yoon, having pulled him up onto the stage at the end of the evening to listen to singers perform the classic.
“Yes, that’s true,” the 62-year-old Yoon admitted, saying that he had loved the Don McLean song, released in 1971, since he was at school.
“We want to hear you sing it,” said Biden.
Signed guitar
“It’s been a while but…,” Yoon responded, offering only token resistance as he took the microphone.
Yoon belted out the first few lines of the song a capella, triggering rapturous applause from the crowd and delighting Biden and the first lady.
“The next state dinner we’re going to have, you’re looking at the entertainment,” Biden told the crowd, referring to Yoon.
Then he turned to the South Korean president and said: “I had no damn idea you could sing.”
Biden told Yoon that McLean could not be at the White House to join them but had sent a signed guitar, which the US president gifted to the South Korean leader.
“Yoon literally tore up the stage and White House!” one Twitter user wrote in Korean in reply to a video of the president singing.
“Yoon has revealed his hidden singing talent,” another commenter wrote, also in Korean, resharing the video.
It is not Yoon’s first time singing in public.
On the campaign trail in 2021, he appeared on the famous South Korean TV show “All the Butlers,” wowing its celebrity hosts with a sparkling rendition of the K-pop ballad “No one else” by Lee Seung-chul.