President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to reporters as he arrives for work at the presidential office in Seoul two days after he returned home from a three-nation swing that brought him to Britain, the United States and Canada, Sept. 26. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that untrue media reports of his remarks caught on hot mic damaged Korea's alliance with the United States in his first response to the controversy.

Last week, Yoon was caught on video making a remark privately to aides in New York that appeared to include vulgar words. Though the recording was not clear, many thought Yoon was talking about U.S. Congress and U.S. President Joe Biden