Bill Gates 'rude' one-handshake stirs Koreans, Is Microsoft founder Bill Gates "rude" as some suggest? Koreans are calling a one-handshake with South Korea President Park Geun-hye Monday a bit too casual for their culture, ABC News wrote today. Was it ill-manners, male chauvinism or mere ignorance of cultural norms?
Gates visited the Korean state as part of his Terra Power initiative, a sustainable nuclear energy option that provides a carbon-free community in a safe manner.
However, it's not his groundbreaking energy program that's getting attention; Bill Gates is being dubbed as "rude" over a handshake to the country's president.
In the photo above, Gates, with an unbuttoned suit coat, is seen extending one hand to President Geun-hye, while the other was tucked in his pocket.
Immediately, social networks exploded with suggestions that the Microsoft visionary was deliberately rude, not necessarily to the president, but to party leaders.
It certainly didn't help exonerate Gates when Chung Jin-suk, secretary general at the Korean National Assembly, said this about the gesture:
"Perhaps it was his all-American style but an open jacket with hand in pocket? That was way too casual. It was very regretful," said Jin-suk.
Other local Korean newspapers piggy-backed his comments with seeing headlines.
DongAh Ilbo newspaper wrote: "A disrespectful handshake or a casual friendly handshake?"
The Joongang Ilbo newspaper wrote."Cultural difference or bad manners?"
No one from the Bill and Melinda Gates has commented on the "rude" allegations. Additionally, the South Korean president has not remarked on the ongoing controversy.
Gates visited the Korean state as part of his Terra Power initiative, a sustainable nuclear energy option that provides a carbon-free community in a safe manner.
However, it's not his groundbreaking energy program that's getting attention; Bill Gates is being dubbed as "rude" over a handshake to the country's president.
In the photo above, Gates, with an unbuttoned suit coat, is seen extending one hand to President Geun-hye, while the other was tucked in his pocket.
Immediately, social networks exploded with suggestions that the Microsoft visionary was deliberately rude, not necessarily to the president, but to party leaders.
It certainly didn't help exonerate Gates when Chung Jin-suk, secretary general at the Korean National Assembly, said this about the gesture:
"Perhaps it was his all-American style but an open jacket with hand in pocket? That was way too casual. It was very regretful," said Jin-suk.
Other local Korean newspapers piggy-backed his comments with seeing headlines.
DongAh Ilbo newspaper wrote: "A disrespectful handshake or a casual friendly handshake?"
The Joongang Ilbo newspaper wrote."Cultural difference or bad manners?"
No one from the Bill and Melinda Gates has commented on the "rude" allegations. Additionally, the South Korean president has not remarked on the ongoing controversy.
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