Comedian Jo Se-ho unexpectedly took over as MBC News’ weatherman Thursday causing a stir on social media.

Dressed as General Winter -- Korea’s traditional answer to Jack Frost -- Jo started to report the weather around Yeouido metro station in Seoul.

 

“I wore this costume to depict the extreme cold weather,” Jo said. He even brought a pair of wet jeans, which froze solid in the winter weather. The mercury on Thursday morning plummeted to minus 15 degrees Celsius in Seoul.

“I want to express my appreciation to the weather presenters who report the news every morning in such freezing conditions,” Jo said.

Jo’s surprise appearance was revealed as a part of MBC’s “Infinite Challenge.” He recently joined the variety show as the sixth member of the cast. The exact date the episode will be broadcast has not been fixed yet.

The footage of Jo reporting the weather news continued to circulate on social media over the weekend. The official video clip from MBC News soon garnered nearly 10,000 views on Twitter and the Facebook post saying “Is it for real?” with a link to the news have received more than 35,000 likes.

조세호가 왜… 여기서 나와…?
동장군으로 변신까지...#조세호씨 #옷은_누가_정한겁니까 #동장군 pic.twitter.com/RxGcB66yVy

— MBC News (MBC 뉴스) (@mbcnews) 2018년 1월 11일

“I thought it was a reporter who looks like Jo, but never imagined it would be him,” a Facebook user said in a comment.

“I saw him (on TV) before I went to work today. I laughed so hard,” another user said.

By Park Ju-young (jupark@heraldcorp.com)