WATCH: UK PM Mistakes an Interpreter for the President of South Korea in Awkward Blunder

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered an awkward diplomatic blunder at the G7 summit in Canada after mistaking an interpreter for newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

In a moment caught on camera during a bilateral meeting, South Korean aides scrambled to correct Starmer after he extended his hand to the translator before realising the error and redirecting his greeting.

Lee, elected just two weeks ago, met with Starmer as the pair aimed to bolster UK-Korea relations with promises to “strengthen it even further” through defence cooperation and trade reform. Both leaders signalled their intent to modernise the existing trade agreement.

For Starmer the moment came just one day after President Donald Trump dropped a signed copy of the UK-US trade deal on the floor. Starmer knelt down to quickly gather up the papers. He later found himself being roasted by British press on the incident, defending his frantic move to scoop up the document.

Starmer said: “I mean, look, there weren’t many choices with the documents and picking it up, because one – as you probably know there were quite strict rules about who can get close to the president.”

“I was just deeply conscious that in a situation,” he added. “Like it would not have been good for anybody else to have stepped forwards – not that any of you rushed to!”

Despite the fumbles, Starmer insisted that Trump was “in good form.”

Watch above via X.