South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se abruptly delayed his first press conference with domestic and foreign journalists, an official said Tuesday, amid a damaging scandal involving a now-fired presidential spokesman over
allegations of sexual misconduct in the United States.
   
Yun had been scheduled to hold the press conference at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday to brief about the results of President Park Geun-hye's visit to the U.S., but it was postponed until next Monday, the senior ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.
   
The delay comes as the scandal involving the former presidential spokesman, Yoon Chang-jung, has rocked the nation. Yoon was sacked for committing an "unsavory" act after the South Korean media reported that he had made explicit sexual advances to a young Korean-American woman temporarily hired to assist him during Park's stay in Washington last week.
   
"The ministry decided to delay the press conference because it would be inappropriate for Yun to hold it today amid the sky-high attention given to the case involving Yoon Chang-jung," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
   
Yoon returned to Seoul last Wednesday without accompanying Park on her trip to Los Angeles, the final stop of her May 5-9 U.S. visit.
   
The ministry official said the decision to delay Yun's press conference was a "desperate measure."    

The scandal has overshadowed Park's summit talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
   
On Monday, Park apologized for the "unsavory" incident and called for a thorough investigation into the allegations involving Yoon.
   
The Washington police quoted the 21-year-old college student as reporting that Yoon "grabbed her buttocks without her permission" at a hotel bar near the White House last Wednesday. The U.S. police said they were investigating it as a "misdemeanor sex abuse" case.
   
The foreign minister Yun has tried to quell any diplomatic fallout from the sex scandal involving Yoon.
   
In an interview with a public broadcaster KBS on Sunday, Yun said, "Basically, this is not a diplomatic issue, but a case that U.S. police are investigating.
   
"The U.S. has already said this has nothing to do with the various achievements of this visit ... and our position is the same," the minister said. (Yonhap News)