Robert Kelly, wife break silence on interrupted viral BBC interview [VIDEOS]

Korea expert Robert Kelly and his wife, Kim Jung-A, finally spoke about their family’s home-office Skype catastrophe. Kelly admitted he “struggled not to laugh” during his now-infamous BBC interview.

The American academic said his minor mistake of not locking the door to his office made their family instantly famous. “I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars," Kelly told the Wall Street Journal.

Jung-A shared that their kids usually come back to her when they learn that the door to their father’s office is locked. "But they didn’t. And then I saw the door was open. It was chaos for me,” she confessed.

Kelly said he was concerned that BBC would never call him again so he emailed the channel to apologise. But he was instead asked for consent to post the clip with the children on the Internet. “We understand why people find it enjoyable. It’s funny,” Kelly told James Menendez, the BBC presenter who did the original interview.

Kelly was then involved in a live interview in which he was sharing his reaction to the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye when his four-year-old daughter, Marion, entered the room. “As soon as she opened the door I saw her image on my screen,” he said.

After a few seconds, Kelly’s eight-month-old son, James, sailed through in his baby walker. “Then I knew it was over,” Kelly told the newspaper.

Jung-A entered to drag the kids away from the camera while Kelly was trying not to laugh. He said he did not reprimand his children for interrupting his interview and he wanted to make them feel comfortable coming to him.

But the fact that several people who have watched the clip mistakenly thought Jung-A was a nanny made his husband “pretty uncomfortable.” Jung-A seemed more relaxed about it, saying she only hopes that people just enjoy the video and don’t squabble about the issue.

The Guardian reports that the couple has opted to turn off their smartphones and log out of social media for days because they were overwhelmed by the response to the clip. Eventually, Kelly realised that it was “terribly cute.”

Kelly is an associate professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University in South Korea. Per the Diplomat, security in northeast Asia, US foreign policy, and the international financial institutions are among the focus of his researches.

Watch Professor Robert Kelly interrupted by his kids and wife during the interview

Watch Professor Kelly and his family back for a new BBC interview

Credit: YouTube/BBC News