New York: Veteran South Korean star Youn Yuh-Jung has apologised for saying British are “very snobbish people”, a comment that was meant as a compliment but got lost in translation.
The 73-year-old actor, best known for her roles in “The Bacchus Lady’, “The Housemaid”, “Lucky Chan-sil”, “In Another Country” and most recently for South Korean-American filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari”, clarified her comments while speaking at a career retrospective.
Youn was given a retrospective from Film at Lincoln Center in New York with director of programming Dennis Lim moderating a Q&A with the actor.
In “Minari”, Youn plays the role of a grandmother for which she won the best supporting actress BAFTA award and is up for an Oscar later this month.
When Lim said one of the attendees wanted to know if there was anything that Youn forgot to say during her BAFTA speech, she said she just wanted to apologise to the British people.
“I would like to express my deep condolences for your Duke of Edinburgh,” she said in her BAFTAs speech, referencing the passing of Prince Philip.
“Thank you so much for this award. Every award is meaningful but this one especially [to be] recognized by British people, known as very snobbish people and they approve me as a good actor. So, I’m very, very privileged.”
Youn told Lim that her English caused the misunderstanding and “actually, I admire the British very much,” including their “Shakespeare, Royal Theatre and everything.”
She continued by saying that because they have a long history and “big pride.”
“It got so big and I thought maybe I was doing something wrong… Hear me saying this: Oh please, big apology for the British (people). Hello, Britain, forgive me,” she added.
PTI