A photo of Cho Kuk, a leader of a smaller third party in South Korea, was edited to falsely portray him holding a banner calling for a boycott of Japanese imports. Posts with the doctored image circulated in Facebook groups supporting the incumbent president Yoon Suk Yeol and went on to say that this showed that Cho had tried to drum up support for his party by stirring up anti-Japanese sentiment. The original image, however, showed him holding a sign appealing to voters to support his party at an election rally in April 2024.
“Kukki, not wanting to lose to the Democratic Party, tried to whip up anti-Japanese sentiment yesterday,” the post said in Korean. shared on Facebook on July 4, referring to the leader of the smaller opposition party, Cho Kuk, by a nickname.
Cho, a former justice minister under former President Moon Jae-in who founded the Reconstructing Korea Party, appeared to be holding a meeting flag calling for a boycott of Japanese products.
The same flag was widely used during Moon’s tenure after South Korea and its neighbor Japan. negotiated retaliatory economic blows over a dispute over compensation for forced labor during the war.
South Korean progressives have long cautious to transform security cooperation with Japan into an alliance (archived link).
Other posts sharing the doctored image were published in Facebook groups supporting current President Yoon Suk Yeol here, here It is here.
Changed signal
A reverse image search on Google found the original photography featuring Cho holding a different sign published by Yonhap news agency on April 8 – days before South Korea’s parliamentary elections (archived link).
The original sign held by Cho contained several slogans supporting his party or criticizing the Yoon administration, including “three years is a long time” – referring to the remainder of the president’s term – and “my son and daughter, both in the house 20 years old, also support Cho Kuk.”
Below is a screenshot comparison between the doctored image shared on Facebook (left) and the original photo captured by Yonhap news agency in April (right):
The Yonhap report said Cho held up the banner during a party rally in the city of Gimpo, during which he criticized the ruling party’s governance and appealed to voters to support his party.
AFP also discovered video footage from the same rally broadcast live on local broadcaster JTBC on April 8 (archived link).
The exact moment corresponding to Yonhap’s photo can be seen in the video 53 minutes 55 seconds mark when Cho made a countdown gesture with his right hand.
Below is a comparison of screenshots of the photo published by Yonhap (left) and the corresponding section of JTBC footage of the same event (right):
No references to Japan or a boycott could be seen on Cho’s sign, or on any of the other three signs he later held in front of cameras at the rally.
Footage from the same rally was also broadcast live by other news organizations Oh my news It is Facts on TVboth displaying the original sign Cho held (archived links here It is here).
