Professor describes the 'comedy of errors' of his children crashing BBC interview

— -- The professor in South Korea at the center of a viral video that shows his young children barging in on a live interview with the BBC described the incident as a "comedy of errors."

Pusan National University professor Robert Kelly was conducting the interview using Skype from his home office in South Korea when his 4-year-old daughter, Marion, interrupted, bopping happily into the room to see her father. Her 8-month-old brother, James, followed close by in a walker.

The children's panicked mother, Kim Jung-a, is then seen sliding into the room after them, taking Marion by the arm and James by the walker and tugging them out of the room.

The reason for the mishap? Kelly forgot to lock the door amid his interview preparations, which included finishing up a soda and tightening his necktie, he and his wife told The Wall Street Journal.

"He usually locks the door," Kim said. "Most of the time, they come back to me after they find the locked door. But they didn't. And then I saw the door was open. It was chaos for me."

Kim and the couple's children were in the living room as Kelly began his BBC appearance, and Kim used her phone to record the interview, according to The WSJ.

Marion, who was in high spirits after celebrating her fourth birthday at school earlier that day, jumped up and down as she watched her father onscreen, The WSJ reported. Since Kim was focused on recording, she didn't notice as her daughter ventured to the end of the hallway to see her father.

"As soon as she opened the door, I saw her image on my screen," Kelly told the paper, adding that he was entirely to blame.

Kelly said he thought the BBC might try to cut to other footage or narrow the camera angle, but he said he knew it was "over" when Marion sat down and James walked in.

The video went viral on Friday and has since been viewed hundreds of millions of times worldwide.

Kelly said although he was "mortified" by the incident, he wants his children to continue to feel comfortable coming to him.

"I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars," he told The WSJ. "It's pretty ridiculous."