South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP that the government was not involved in a criminal complaint filed by local NGOs against Israeli authorities, contrary to news shared by social media users around the world. The graphic, which used an image of President Yoon Suk Yeol and falsely claimed that Seoul had brought legal action against Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity, was shared in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza and persistent international criticism of the high number of civilian casualties.
“South Korea files case against Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity,” read the text of a news graphic shared on Facebook on June 24, 2024.
The graphic featured an image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol with the country’s flag behind him.
Printed at the bottom of the graphic were the US news site’s website and social media handles MintPress Newswho has already shared misleading content debunked by AFP here.
The graphic was originally posted by MintPress News on its verified Facebook page on June 24th and, the following day, in its Instagram It is X accounts.
The graphics’ captions read: “South Korea has taken the unprecedented step of bringing cases against 7 Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity,” and stated that Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the officials targeted in the “shock movement”.
The same chart was also uploaded to Instagram It is Xwhere it was republished more than 9,000 times.
Similar allegations were also posted on Facebook, X, Topicsand in a report from the Lebanese broadcaster MTVas well as in a headline from the Israel-based media outlet Ynet News.
The claims circulated amid the ongoing war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ unprecedented attack on October 7 against Israel – an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based in Israeli numbers.
The militants also captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel responded with a military offensive that killed at least 38,980 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, controlled by Hamas.
On May 20, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and top Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.
ICC judges will decide whether the request meets the threshold for warrants to be formally issued, and the ICC’s 124 member states will ultimately decide whether to execute them.
South Korea, however, did not file charges against the Israeli leaders.
‘Government not involved’
Keyword searches on Google led to a report in South Korea Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper published on May 9 that said two NGOs had filed a criminal complaint with the police against seven Israeli officials (archived link).
The seven employees are the same as those listed in the MintPress News report.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun reportThe plaintiffs – Popular Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and Asian Dignity Initiative – have gathered more than 5,000 signatures in support of their action.
The request was also covered by Yonhap News Agency (archived link).
The PSPD published about the complaint in its websitestating that his complaint was filed under South Korea’s Law on Punishment of Crimes under the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (archived link).
Lee Young-ah of the PSPD’s Center for Peace and Disarmament told AFP on July 18 that his complaint “aims to broadly expose those responsible for war crimes” in Gaza, although South Korean police may not have the jurisdiction investigate (archived link).
A South Korean Foreign Ministry representative described the allegations to AFP as being the result of “incorrect report“.
They said “the South Korean government was not involved” in filing the criminal complaint.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25572226/google_charger.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1 "Google’s Pixel 9 launch also brought a new 45W USB-C charger")
