Author Yu Si-min speaks at a book talk held at the Pyeongsan Bookstore booth of the Seoul International Book Fair at Coex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on June 25. [Yonhap]
Author Yu Si-min speaks at a book talk held at the Pyeongsan Bookstore booth of the Seoul International Book Fair at Coex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on June 25. [Yonhap]

Author Yu Si-min, who stepped down as standing adviser to the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation and left its flagship YouTube program "Allilleo," spoke about the show's history and his plans going forward.

Tak Hyun-min, a professor at Mokpo National University, shared excerpts on his social media account Wednesday from a conversation with Yu, writing that Yu and former President Moon Jae-in "spoke of long-held feelings and new thoughts" at the event.

Yu made the remarks at a book talk held at the Dolbegae x Pyeongsan Bookstore booth of the 2026 Seoul International Book Fair at Coex on June 25. "There have been all sorts of noisy affairs," he said, adding that he believed the late former President Roh Moo-hyun had effectively told him: "Alright, that's enough. You've done plenty. That's more than enough. Now go out and live your own life. Go do what you need to do."

Tak asked whether that was how Yu saw the current moment, and Yu replied, "I want to try something different."

Author Yu Si-min (from left), former President Moon Jae-in and former Cheong Wa Dae chief of protocol Tak Hyun-min participate in a book talk at the Pyeongsan Bookstore booth of the Seoul International Book Fair at Coex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on June 25. [Yonhap]
Author Yu Si-min (from left), former President Moon Jae-in and former Cheong Wa Dae chief of protocol Tak Hyun-min participate in a book talk at the Pyeongsan Bookstore booth of the Seoul International Book Fair at Coex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on June 25. [Yonhap]

In a letter sent to Roh Moo-hyun Foundation supporters on June 15, Yu announced he intended to leave the foundation for now and had asked to be removed from his standing adviser post. He also said he had notified the foundation that "Allilleo Books," its flagship YouTube program, would end in late June.

He explained at the time that he was resigning and suspending his activities "to prevent any difficulties the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation might face because of the critical commentary work I plan to do going forward."

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kwak Sang-eon, the late president's son-in-law, had earlier claimed in a YouTube broadcast that Yu appeared in 68 percent of all videos on the foundation's YouTube channel by count, and that people associated with Yu featured in 76 percent by total running time — criticizing Yu for effectively privatizing the foundation.

At the book talk, Yu also reflected on the history of "Allilleo."

He said that when President Moon was at Cheong Wa Dae, the program focused on discussing state policies that citizens needed to know about. "It was a political commentary program, but after some incidents we decided to play it safe and switched to introducing books," he said. "Allilleo" launched in January 2019 as a current-affairs show before converting in November 2020 into a book program called "Allilleo Books."

"We started in the fall of 2020," Yu said. "I think we did the book broadcasts for nearly six and a half years. We covered about 120 books."


ygmoon@heraldcorp.com