Latest news with #Ilbe
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Digitally altered photo misleads on Trump's response to South Korea presidential election
"As soon as [Lee Jae-myung] was inaugurated as president, 'Yoon Again' was spotted on Trump's cellphone," reads part of a Korean-language Facebook post shared on June 5. "It means President Yoon is still the only leader Trump accepts." A photo attached to the post appears to show US President Donald Trump holding up a phone with "Yoon Again" displayed on its screen; the slogan was adopted by impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol's supporters who believe his removal from office was illegitimate (archived link). The posts were shared a day after Lee won South Korea's snap presidential election by a large margin, ending months of political unrest triggered by Yoon's imposition of martial law and subsequent impeachment (archived link). The same doctored image and claim were widely circulated in Facebook groups backing Yoon and other conservative figures in South Korea, as well as on far-right forum Ilbe. "President Trump will correct the results of South Korea's presidential election as he seems to have watched it closely," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Trump is the only ally to President Yoon still standing, let's put our trust in him." As of June 6, Trump had not called the new South Korean president, with analysts saying any further delay may signal reluctance on the US president's part to engage with the new leader (archived link). The circulating image, however, has been altered. A keyword search found the circulating image was altered from a photo taken by AFP photographer Saul Loeb on May 30 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, as Trump disembarked from Air Force One. Trump's phone lock screen in fact shows a picture of the president pointing forwards, not a message of support for Yoon. The date displayed on the phone screen also reads "May 30" -- four days before South Korea's presidential election. According to reports by MSNBC and Euronews, the image of Trump's phone screen was widely discussed on social media, with his supporters praising the president and his critics calling him "self-absorbed" (archived here and here). Another photo taken by Loeb also shows Trump's phone screen did not display a message of support for Yoon. AFP has debunked multiple false claims about Trump's supposed opinion on South Korea's impeached president.
AFP
4 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Digitally altered photo misleads on Trump's response to South Korea presidential election
"As soon as [Lee Jae-myung] was inaugurated as president, 'Yoon Again' was spotted on Trump's cellphone," reads part of a Korean-language Facebook post shared on June 5. "It means President Yoon is still the only leader Trump accepts." A photo attached to the post appears to show US President Donald Trump holding up a phone with "Yoon Again" displayed on its screen; the slogan was adopted by impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol's supporters who believe his removal from office was illegitimate (archived link). The posts were shared a day after Lee won South Korea's snap presidential election by a large margin, ending months of political unrest triggered by Yoon's imposition of martial law and subsequent impeachment (archived link). Image Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on June 5, 2025 The same doctored image and claim were widely circulated in Facebook groups backing Yoon and other conservative figures in South Korea, as well as on far-right forum Ilbe. "President Trump will correct the results of South Korea's presidential election as he seems to have watched it closely," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Trump is the only ally to President Yoon still standing, let's put our trust in him." As of June 6, Trump had not called the new South Korean president, with analysts saying any further delay may signal reluctance on the US president's part to engage with the new leader (archived link). The circulating image, however, has been altered. Doctored phone screen A keyword search found the circulating image was altered from a photo taken by AFP photographer Saul Loeb on May 30 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, as Trump disembarked from Air Force One. Trump's phone lock screen in fact shows a picture of the president pointing forwards, not a message of support for Yoon. The date displayed on the phone screen also reads "May 30" -- four days before South Korea's presidential election. Image Screenshot comparison of the altered image shared on Facebook (left) and the AFP photo (right) According to reports by MSNBC and Euronews, the image of Trump's phone screen was widely discussed on social media, with his supporters praising the president and his critics calling him "self-absorbed" (archived here and here). Another photo taken by Loeb also shows Trump's phone screen did not display a message of support for Yoon. AFP has debunked multiple false claims about Trump's supposed opinion on South Korea's impeached president.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fake subtitles misrepresent Trump comments as insults against former S. Korean president
"There is no other idiot like this, the boiled cowhead," reads a Korean-language post on Facebook on April 16, referring to Moon by a slur based on a term previously used by a North Korean government agency. The approximately one-minute video in the post includes three clips of Trump: one during a meeting with Moon and two different public addresses. Korean-language captions throughout the video claim they represent "actual comments from Trump after he met Moon Jae-in." The first accuses Moon of "putting on a show" for a reporter from the South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh while Trump watches him pathetically. The second claims it depicts Trump insulting Moon's intelligence, and the third is described as Trump mocking Moon for reading off a piece of paper. The same video was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook and Ilbe, a far-right South Korean forum, while the third clip in the compilation previously circulated in multiple South Korean social media posts that also claimed Trump was mocking Moon. The former president is a regular target of right-wing misinformation, debunked by AFP here, here, and here. Some users left comments indicating they believed the captions were accurate. One user wrote: "Look at that idiot [Moon] laughing, oblivious to the fact that he is being mocked and laughed at." "This is a national humiliation," wrote another user. But the subtitles misrepresent Trump's actual comments. A keyword search found the first video of Trump seated next to Moon in the Oval Office corresponds to footage of a meeting between the two leaders at the White House on May 22, 2018 during Moon's visit to the United States (archived link). As Moon listens to a question from a South Korean reporter, Trump remarks, "He's a friendly reporter. They're friends. So let them -- like you. Except he kills me. For a friendly reporter, he kills me." The remarks are also recorded in the Trump White House archives from his first term in office (archived link). The second clip, which the false subtitles claim is a recent Trump speech, was actually delivered in Missouri on November 30, 2017 and can be seen in a video uploaded by the Washington Post the same day (archived link). "And when I was in Asia, I spoke to a couple of countries about it, and they looked like this, you know what this is?" Trump can be heard in the corresponding section of the video. He makes a movement with hunched-over shoulders and nods as he speaks. The full speech shows that while Trump was mocking Asian leaders' gestures, he was actually referring to how the United States was protecting wealthy Asian countries without receiving fair due -- accusations he has made repeatedly regarding defence cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea and Japan (archived link). The comments can also be read in the Trump White House archives (archived link). The final video of Trump reading off a piece of paper was taken from a rally in West Virginia on September 29, 2018 (archived link). The false captions claim Trump was mocking South Korea's Democratic Party as being "easy to deal with" and imitating Moon with the gesture, but he was in fact taking a jab at one of his predecessors, George H. W. Bush (archived link). "It's so easy to be presidential," Trump says as he stares at a piece of paper. "All I have to do is: 'Thank you very much for being here ladies and gentlemen. It's great to see you all, you're great Americans.'" He goes on to say: "Thousand points of light. Which nobody has really figured out" -- a reference to an expression famously used by Bush in his 1989 inaugural address (archived link).
AFP
18-04-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Fake subtitles misrepresent Trump comments as insults against former S. Korean president
"There is no other idiot like this, the boiled cowhead," reads a Korean-language post on Facebook on April 16, referring to Moon by a slur based on a term previously used by a North Korean government agency. The approximately one-minute video in the post includes three clips of Trump: one during a meeting with Moon and two different public addresses. Korean-language captions throughout the video claim they represent "actual comments from Trump after he met Moon Jae-in." The first accuses Moon of "putting on a show" for a reporter from the South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh while Trump watches him pathetically. The second claims it depicts Trump insulting Moon's intelligence, and the third is described as Trump mocking Moon for reading off a piece of paper. Image Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured April 17 The same video was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook and Ilbe, a far-right South Korean forum, while the third clip in the compilation previously circulated in multiple South Korean social media posts that also claimed Trump was mocking Moon. The former president is a regular target of right-wing misinformation, debunked by AFP here, here, and here. Some users left comments indicating they believed the captions were accurate. One user wrote: "Look at that idiot [Moon] laughing, oblivious to the fact that he is being mocked and laughed at." "This is a national humiliation," wrote another user. But the subtitles misrepresent Trump's actual comments. First clip A keyword search found the first video of Trump seated next to Moon in the Oval Office corresponds to footage of a meeting between the two leaders at the White House on May 22, 2018 during Moon's visit to the United States (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison between the 0:13 mark in the misleading clip (left) and the corresponding section in footage of the meeting posted to YouTube As Moon listens to a question from a South Korean reporter, Trump remarks, "He's a friendly reporter. They're friends. So let them -- like you. Except he kills me. For a friendly reporter, he kills me." The remarks are also recorded in the Trump White House archives from his first term in office (archived link). Second clip The second clip, which the false subtitles claim is a recent Trump speech, was actually delivered in Missouri on November 30, 2017 and can be seen in a video uploaded by the Washington Post the same day (archived link). "And when I was in Asia, I spoke to a couple of countries about it, and they looked like this, you know what this is?" Trump can be heard in the corresponding section of the video. He makes a movement with hunched-over shoulders and nods as he speaks. The full speech shows that while Trump was mocking Asian leaders' gestures, he was actually referring to how the United States was protecting wealthy Asian countries without receiving fair due -- accusations he has made repeatedly regarding defence cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea and Japan (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison between the 0:36 mark in the misleading clip (left) and the corresponding section in footage of the speech posted to YouTube The comments can also be read in the Trump White House archives (archived link). Third clip The final video of Trump reading off a piece of paper was taken from a rally in West Virginia on September 29, 2018 (archived link). The false captions claim Trump was mocking South Korea's Democratic Party as being "easy to deal with" and imitating Moon with the gesture, but he was in fact taking a jab at one of his predecessors, George H. W. Bush (archived link). "It's so easy to be presidential," Trump says as he stares at a piece of paper. "All I have to do is: 'Thank you very much for being here ladies and gentlemen. It's great to see you all, you're great Americans.'" He goes on to say: "Thousand points of light. Which nobody has really figured out" -- a reference to an expression famously used by Bush in his 1989 inaugural address (archived link).
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fabricated article about South Korean wildfires inflames anti-Chinese sentiment
A screenshot of the supposed news report spread March 24, 2025 on Facebook as multiple wildfires burned in South Korea's southeast (archived link). The wildfires are the largest and deadliest on record, with the death toll from the blazes standing at 28 as of March 28 (archived link). "'Half-burnt Chinese books' The suspect in the series of fires in the mountains is a Chinese exchange student", reads the Korean-language headline above a photo of firemen silhouetted against a raging inferno. Text below the image says: "Land equivalent to the size of '4,600 soccer pitches' damaged by simultaneous wildfires... Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters says '3,286 hectares of forest are burned'." The Facebook post, shared by a lawyer who has previously spread baseless claims of voter fraud, calls for a "comprehensive investigation and communication censorship of Chinese exchange students". It also alleges that "nationwide wildfire terror attacks are suspected to be a joint operation by China and North Korea". The purported screenshot also circulated on the South Korean forum Ilbe and YouTube. It comes amid a surge of anti-Chinese disinformation in the country following impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. Yoon has defended his short-lived suspension of civilian rule by claiming external forces, North Korea and anti-state elements were working together to threaten national security and sovereignty (archived link). He also specifically accused unidentified Chinese individuals of flying a drone to photograph Seoul's spy agency building and a US aircraft carrier docked in Busan. However, the supposed news report swirling online is fabricated. As of March 28, there had been no official reports of wildfires deliberately set by a Chinese exchange student. The interior ministry said the blazes were accidentally started by a grave visitor and "sparks from a brush cutter" (archived link). A combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found the fabricated news article was created by stitching together two separate, unrelated reports from South Korea's Herald Business newspaper. The headline comes from a February 21 article about the arrest of a Chinese exchange student on suspicion of igniting an open area on a university campus in Ulsan (archived link). A Chinese-language book found at the scene helped local police identify the suspect, the newspaper reported. The photo and subsequent text stem from a March 23 article about the damage caused by the ongoing wildfires (archived link). "It is regrettable to see our articles circulating in this way," said Moon Yang-gyu, head of the Herald Business's platform response team, on March 27, adding that the newspaper is looking into potential legal action.
