Leno gag riles politicians

American chat show host Jay Leno has sparked an international incident with a joke about the Winter Olympics.

A quip on The Tonight Show about disqualified Korean speed skater Kim Dong-sung has enraged the country's senior politicans.

Leno joked that the athlete must have been so frustrated when he was kicked out of the 1,500m speed skate event that he kicked a dog . . . and then ate it.

Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said the gag was "tasteless and degrading".

And Kim Jong-pil, president of the country's United Liberal Democrat party, has sent an official letter of protest to NBC, which broadcasts the late-night show.

He said: "It is repulsive to talk about another country in such a foul manner. "It would not be proper to let such a man without the least common decency continue to host a TV programme."

Published: 25 Feb 2002