The image circulated in pro-Han Facebook groups here, here And here as Han and Lee meet for the first time since they were elected to lead their respective parties (archived link).
The meeting included problems included a cash benefit plan to help citizens with the rising cost of living and an ongoing doctors’ strike that is paralyzing the health care system.
Comments on the posts showed that some users were convinced that the banner in the image was authentic.
“What kind of rudeness is this, they have no ethical sense whatsoever,” someone wrote.
“Lee is the one who needs to be investigated,” said another.
But the image has been manipulated.
Manipulated banner
A reverse image search found the original image published in a report from the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper on December 29, 2023, attributed to South Korean news agency Yonhap (archived link).
The image, which can also be found in Yonhap’s photo databaseshows Lee and Han shaking hands in front of a Democratic Party banner calling on President Yoon Suk Yeol to accept an investigation by a special prosecutor into allegations surrounding his wife Kim Keon Hee (archived link).
Kim is suspicious of receiving a luxury handbag under questionable circumstances, although the country’s prosecutor’s office – previously headed by Yoon himself – reportedly to acquit her of all criminal charges (archived link) here And here).
The original banner reads: “The President must accept a special investigation into Kim Keon Hee.”
Below is a screenshot comparing the edited photo on social media (left) with the original photo from Yonhap News (right):
Broadcaster JTBC broadcasted film material from the December 29 rally – when Han was interim leader of his People Power Party – where the banner calling for an investigation into Kim is on full display (archived link).
Lee and Han’s last meeting on September 1, 2024, took place in front of a painting of a royal procession, not a banner as seen in film material of the meeting broadcast live by SBS news (archived link).
Photos from the last meeting, published in reports here And herealso show the two leaders photographed in front of a painting (archived links here And here).
