The professor interrupted by his two mischievous children in an interview says his first reaction was "mortification" and worry that the BBC would never call him again.

Professor Robert E Kelly, from the department of political science at South Korea's Pusan National University, was discussing the impeachment of the country's president Park Geun-hye on BBC World News during a morning bulletin on Friday when his two children gatecrashed the live segment.

The interview quickly became an internet sensation.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Professor Kelly said: "We were worried actually that the BBC would never call us again actually.

"That was actually our first response was mortification that we had just sort of completely blown our relationship with you."

His wife, Jung-a Kim, who rushed into the room to remove their two children during the live interview, said they "laughed a lot" afterwards.

The video, which was shared from the BBC World News Twitter account, has been retweeted tens of thousands of times.

During the interview, Professor Kelly had been talking to presenter James Menendez about President Park being ousted from power, when his daughter Marion burst into the room unannounced and proceeded to dance behind him.

He managed to keep a straight face and continued to discuss whether the decision would affect South Korea's relationship with North Korea, only for his son James to arrive bouncing into the room in a baby walker.

A split second later, his wife could be seen sliding into the room to frantically gather the children and pull them out.

As the children were heard wailing in the background, Professor Kelly smiled, apologised and continued his segment.

He confirmed afterwards that he was wearing trousers, following speculation that the reason he remained seated instead of helping move the children away during the interview was because he did not have any on.