A photo of Cho Kuk, a minor third-party leader in South Korea, has been doctored to falsely depict him holding a banner calling for a boycott of Japanese imports. Posts with the doctored image have been circulated in Facebook groups supporting the sitting president Yoon Suk Yeol and said it showed Cho trying to gain support for his party by stirring up anti-Japanese sentiment. However, the original image showed him holding a sign urging voters to support his party at an election rally in April 2024.
“Kukki did not want to lose to the Democratic Party and tried to stir up anti-Japanese sentiments yesterday,” the Korean-language report said shared on facebook on July 4, nicknamed the leader of the minor opposition party, Cho Kuk.
Cho, a former justice minister under former President Moon Jae-in who founded the Rebuilding Korea Party, appeared to hold a rally banner calling for a boycott of Japanese goods.
The same banner was widely used during Moon’s term after South Korea and neighboring Japan traded economic setbacks resulting from a dispute over compensation for forced labor during the war.
South Korean progressives have long been cautiously from upgrading security cooperation with Japan to an alliance (archived link).
Other posts sharing the manipulated image were published in Facebook groups supporting incumbent President Yoon Suk Yeol here, here And here.
Changed board
A reverse image search on Google found the original photographer showing Cho holding another sign published by Yonhap News Agency on April 8, days before South Korea’s parliamentary elections (archived link).
The original sign Cho held featured several slogans supporting his party or criticizing Yoon’s government, including: “three years is too long” (referring to the president’s remaining term) and “my son and daughter, both in their 20s, also support Cho Kuk.”
Below is a screenshot comparing the edited image on Facebook (left) with the original photo taken by Yonhap news agency in April (right):
The Yonhap report said Cho held up the sign at a party meeting in the city of Gimpo, criticizing the ruling party’s governance and calling on voters to support his party.
AFP also found film material of the same meeting that was broadcast live on April 8 by local broadcaster JTBC (archived link).
The exact moment corresponding to the Yonhap photo can be seen in the videos 53 minutes 55 seconds marks the moment when Cho makes a counting gesture with his right hand.
Below is a screenshot of the photo Yonhap published (left) and the corresponding portion of JTBC’s footage from the same event (right):
Cho’s sign, and the other three signs he held up to the camera during the meeting, contained no reference to Japan or a boycott.
Footage from the same meeting was also broadcast live by other news organizations Ohmynews And Facts TVboth of which showed the original sign Cho held (archived links here And here).
