Latest news with #Korean-language
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Picture of S.Korean politician 'supporting rival' is doctored
"Mr. Hong Joon-pyo, I'm disappointed. Go ahead and live together with others," reads a Korean-language Facebook post shared on May 29, 2025. The phrase "together with others" is wordplay on the Democratic Party's Korean name "Deobureo Minjudang". The first word means "together with" while the second means "Democratic Party". Hong, a five-term lawmaker, ran for president in 2017 but lost to Democratic Party nominee Moon Jae-in. He made another bid in 2022, but Yoon was chosen instead as the presidential candidate at the People Power Party (PPP) primary. After resigning as mayor of southeastern Daegu city earlier this year for another run for the presidency, he was again defeated and quit the party, departing for Hawaii (archived link). The post features a screenshot from messaging app KakaoTalk that includes an image of Hong apparently wearing a white jacket printed with "Lee Jae-myung now" and "1" -- Lee's candidate number. "A photo showing Hong Joon-pyo in the United States wearing a campaign outfit for candidate Lee Jae-myung," an accompanying message reads. Text overlaid on the image reads: "This beast? A person?! A dog?" South Korea will hold a snap presidential election on June 3 triggered by Yoon's disastrous martial law declaration, with the two-day early voting period beginning five days prior (archived link). All major polls have placed Lee as the clear frontrunner in the race, with conservative ex-labour minister Kim Moon-soo of the PPP trailing far behind (archived here and here). The picture of Hong sporting a pro-Lee slogan circulated across platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, X and Threads. "The face of a human, but the heart of a beast. How can you be like this? Traitor to the conservatives. Quit politics," a misled user wrote in a comment. Another said: "Hong Joon-pyo, why are you so petty and sly. Good luck getting along with Lee Jae-myung." The image, however, is edited; Hong's jacket did not show a political message in the original photo. A reverse image search on Google revealed Hong posted the photo featuring him and his wife on Facebook on May 15 (archived link). He added that the picture was taken at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. While in Hawaii, Hong has remained active on Facebook. At one point, he changed the colour of his tie in his profile picture to blue -- the symbolic colour of the Democratic Party -- before switching it back to the PPP's colour red (archived here and here). This prompted speculation he might switch sides and join the rival camp, but he later rejected such rumours and expressed support for Kim, according to local news reports (archived here and here). AFP has previously debunked misinformation surrounding the upcoming presidential election in South Korea.
AFP
20 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Picture of S.Korean politician 'supporting rival' is doctored
"Mr. Hong Joon-pyo, I'm disappointed. Go ahead and live together with others," reads a Korean-language Facebook post shared on May 29, 2025. The phrase "together with others" is wordplay on the Democratic Party's Korean name "Deobureo Minjudang". The first word means "together with" while the second means "Democratic Party". Hong, a five-term lawmaker, ran for president in 2017 but lost to Democratic Party nominee Moon Jae-in. He made another bid in 2022, but Yoon was chosen instead as the presidential candidate at the People Power Party (PPP) primary. After resigning as mayor of southeastern Daegu city earlier this year for another run for the presidency, he was again defeated and quit the party, departing for Hawaii (archived link). The post features a screenshot from messaging app KakaoTalk that includes an image of Hong apparently wearing a white jacket printed with "Lee Jae-myung now" and "1" -- Lee's candidate number. "A photo showing Hong Joon-pyo in the United States wearing a campaign outfit for candidate Lee Jae-myung," an accompanying message reads. Text overlaid on the image reads: "This beast? A person?! A dog?" Image Screenshot of the Facebook post taken May 30, 2025 South Korea will hold a snap presidential election on June 3 triggered by Yoon's disastrous martial law declaration, with the two-day early voting period beginning five days prior (archived link). All major polls have placed Lee as the clear frontrunner in the race, with conservative ex-labour minister Kim Moon-soo of the PPP trailing far behind (archived here and here). The picture of Hong sporting a pro-Lee slogan circulated across platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, X and Threads. "The face of a human, but the heart of a beast. How can you be like this? Traitor to the conservatives. Quit politics," a misled user wrote in a comment. Another said: "Hong Joon-pyo, why are you so petty and sly. Good luck getting along with Lee Jae-myung." The image, however, is edited; Hong's jacket did not show a political message in the original photo. A reverse image search on Google revealed Hong posted the photo featuring him and his wife on Facebook on May 15 (archived link). He added that the picture was taken at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. Image Screenshot comparison of the image shared in false posts (L) and the original photo While in Hawaii, Hong has remained active on Facebook. At one point, he changed the colour of his tie in his profile picture to blue -- the symbolic colour of the Democratic Party -- before switching it back to the PPP's colour red (archived here and here). This prompted speculation he might switch sides and join the rival camp, but he later rejected such rumours and expressed support for Kim, according to local news reports (archived here and here). AFP has previously debunked misinformation surrounding the upcoming presidential election in South Korea.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Personal stamps cannot be used on ballots: S.Korea poll body
"You must stamp your personal seal on the ballot to completely block election fraud! Don't forget to bring your seal!!!" reads a Korean-language X post shared on May 26, 2025. The post features a poster for a recently released documentary titled "Election Fraud: A Work of God?" which drew media attention when former president Yoon showed up to a screening (archived link). Yoon had claimed his failed martial law declaration, which saw troops sent to the National Election Commission (NEC) premises, was partly aimed at investigating voter fraud allegations popular with the country's far-right conspiracy theorists (archived link). Yoon is on trial for insurrection charges over his failed attempt to scrap civilian rule and South Korea has been effectively leaderless since his suspension. South Korea will select a new president on June 3, with early voting kicking off five days prior (archived link). All major polls have placed liberal Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race. Trailing behind him is conservative ex-labour minister Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party -- Yoon's former party. Similar claims about marking ballots spread elsewhere on X as well as on Facebook. However, following the advice shared in these false posts invalidates votes. Ballots must be marked with devices provided at polling stations and not with personal seals, the NEC said in an information sheet about voting on its website (archived link). Writing in names or using fingerprints to mark a ballot would render it invalid, the NEC said. An official from the commission told AFP on May 29 this is to ensure the secrecy of voting as required by the law, saying using a personal stamp "can expose the voter's identity" (archived link). The Public Official Election Act states ballots marked with anything else shall be nullified (archived link). AFP has debunked more misinformation around South Korea's presidential vote here, here and here.
AFP
a day ago
- Politics
- AFP
Personal stamps cannot be used on ballots: S.Korea poll body
"You must stamp your personal seal on the ballot to completely block election fraud! Don't forget to bring your seal!!!" reads a Korean-language X post shared on May 26, 2025. The post features a poster for a recently released documentary titled "Election Fraud: A Work of God?" which drew media attention when former president Yoon showed up to a screening (archived link). Yoon had claimed his failed martial law declaration, which saw troops sent to the National Election Commission (NEC) premises, was partly aimed at investigating voter fraud allegations popular with the country's far-right conspiracy theorists (archived link). Yoon is on trial for insurrection charges over his failed attempt to scrap civilian rule and South Korea has been effectively leaderless since his suspension. Image Screenshot of the X post taken May 29, 2025 South Korea will select a new president on June 3, with early voting kicking off five days prior (archived link). All major polls have placed liberal Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race. Trailing behind him is conservative ex-labour minister Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party -- Yoon's former party. Similar claims about marking ballots spread elsewhere on X as well as on Facebook. However, following the advice shared in these false posts invalidates votes. Ballots must be marked with devices provided at polling stations and not with personal seals, the NEC said in an information sheet about voting on its website (archived link). Image Screenshot of the NEC Q&A displaying the official ballot marking device, taken May 30 Writing in names or using fingerprints to mark a ballot would render it invalid, the NEC said. An official from the commission told AFP on May 29 this is to ensure the secrecy of voting as required by the law, saying using a personal stamp "can expose the voter's identity" (archived link). The Public Official Election Act states ballots marked with anything else shall be nullified (archived link). AFP has debunked more misinformation around South Korea's presidential vote here, here and here.
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Lee Jun-seok's graphic language in debate leads to human rights petitions: report
Over 30 petitions filed concerning the presidential candidate's reference to Lee Jae-myung's son's "chopstick" remarks The furor surrounding the presidential candidate Lee Jun-seok's repetition of sexually violent language used by another candidate's son continued to grow, as a local media outlet reported Thursday that 35 petitions related to Lee's remarks have been filed to the state human rights watchdog. According to the Korean-language Hankoreh newspaper, multiple individuals across both genders and different age groups have submitted the petitions to the National Human Rights Commission, complaining that Lee's comments were sexually demeaning to women and overly graphic. Lee of the minor New Reform Party made the comments during a live TV debate on Tuesday. "Such comment cannot be considered a simple gaffe or slip of tongue, but a premediated expression of hatred. I would like to urge the NHRC's investigation for infringement of human rights, in that (Lee) has proliferated discrimination and hatred toward women and social minorities in a public area and during election," a female petitioner in her 50s claimed in her petition. During the TV debate, he addressed the liberal candidates Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea and Kwon Young-gook of the Democratic Labor Party, asking if it could be considered a misogyny if someone said, "I want to put a chopstick inside a woman's genitals." Both candidates refused to directly answer the question, with Kwon saying he cannot fathom why he is asking such question. The question was a reference to online comments made by the son of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung. The son of DP's Lee was summarily indicted for the comment online and was fined 5 million won ($3,600) in 2024, but the remark used graphic language for male genitalia. But Lee Jun-seok argued in a separate interview that the comment cannot definitively determined as referring to male genitalia. Lee Jun-seok accused of misogyny Regardless of the offensive words used by the DP candidate's son, petitioners are issuing complaints over Lee Jun-seok repeating the language on TV. Another petitioner surnamed Jeong, a man in his 20s, pointed out that the New Reform Party candidate has repeatedly used remarks that can be seen as discriminatory toward women, physically disabled, senior citizens and other social minorities. The NHRC officially described one of Lee's comments as an example of a hate speech in its booklet published in November of 2021. The comment was made during an interview on May of 2021, Lee said, "Through movies and novels, women in their 20s and 30s have clearly developed a groundless victim mentality that they are being discriminated.' Lee Jun-seok initially stated Wednesday morning that his comments were just to reaffirm the two candidates' position on "unbelievable level of comment made by someone online," criticizing what "the hypocrisy of the liberal faction." But after a barrage of criticism against him, he issued a public apology. "I knew of course that some of the public would have been uncomfortable watching that (comment on TV debate), and for that, I offer my sincere apology," he told reporters after a campaign rally in Seoul. He maintained defense of his comments, saying the issue deserved to be scrutinized. Lee went onto say that he does not know how else to tone down the language on the comment, and said DP's Lee has not sufficiently offered explanations about his son. Lee held a press conference on Thursday morning, and claimed that his comments are not his own creation, but a "toned down version of what Lee Jae-myung's son wrote on an online community."
