Jung-a Kim, the wife of Korean political expert Robert Kelly, was so busy filming her husband's appearance on BBC One that she didn't realize that her children had gate-crashed it until she spotted them on television.
The "comedy of errors" that followed -- Kelly attempting to remain professional as his two toddlers entered his office in quick succession, Kim sweeping them out of the room and reaching in from off-camera to close the door -- became a viral sensation overnight, prompting both laughs and sympathy from other parents who juggle household chaos and work obligations on a daily basis.
Kelly, Kim and their two children sat down Tuesday with the Wall Street Journal to discuss the clip and clarify what, exactly, had happened that morning.
Their 4-year-old daughter Marion, who made her entrance by swaggering into the room and up to her father's desk, was in a "hippity-hoppity mood that day because of the school party," Kelly said; their son James, who toddled in moments later, was following his sister in the tradition of younger siblings everywhere.
And Kim, who slid into the room and corralled the children in a a matter of seconds, was doing what mothers all over the world do: Keeping her family in line.
"It was terribly cute," Kelly, who holds degrees from both Miami University and Ohio State, said. "I saw the video like everybody else. My wife did a great job cleaning up a really unanticipated situation as best she could."
Kim added that the family had "laughed a lot" watching the clip and been touched by the worldwide response from media outlets and fellow parents. They were "mortified" at first, Kelly said, but quickly took the incident in stride.
"They're little kids and that's how things are," Kelly said.
