President makes headlines after pen-pocketing incident becomes internet hit

Czech President Václav Klaus has made international headlines after a clip of him stealing a pen during a press conference while visiting Chile was broadcast on Czech Television on Sunday night and later posted on the internet video platform YouTube. In the video, Klaus, who is sitting next to his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera, opens a pen case, removes the pen from it and then hides his hands under the table before closing the empty case. As of Wednesday, the video had drawn over 1.5 million views, making it an internet sensation. In the UK, both The Guardian and The Times covered the incident. Mr. Klaus was quoted by the Czech news site Novinky.cz on Tuesday, commenting that taking pens from an event was “standard” and pointing out that the pen he had taken was commonly presented to foreign delegations as a token.