Well behaved or ridiculous? Trudeau spreads his legs in South Korea

The problem that Justin Trudeau faced will also be recognizable to some Dutch people.

The Canadian prime minister was in Seoul ahead of the G7 summit, where he delivered a speech to the national parliament. Before that, he took a photo with South Korean politician Kim Jin-pyo.

Bending over or on the toes

Kim – jokingly – stood on her tiptoes to hide the roughly 20 centimeter height difference between the two leaders, writes The Guardian. Trudeau then briefly stooped to Kim’s level, which made the Korean delegation laugh.

Then, Trudeau decided to spread his legs to get almost level with Kim. In South Korea, this is called “manner legs”.

Trudeau has been praised in the South Korean media for his action. The newspapers speak of a “comforting scene” and a “benevolent attitude”. There are also criticisms in our own country. For example, according to the conservative True North, the Prime Minister has “embarrassed Canada again”.

More often discredited

This is not the first time that Trudeau has been discredited for his contacts with world leaders. In 2016, he confused the hands of the US and Mexican presidents when he tried to greet them at the same time.

Late last year, Trudeau met with angry Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called the Canadian to order. “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the press and it’s inappropriate,” Xi said at the time. Watch this excerpt here: