The image was also shared elsewhere on Facebook, as well as on the South Korean forum Naver Band here and here.
Social media users left comments criticizing Moon, indicating they believed the reaction to the image was genuine.
“A first drunk driving incident? Moon didn’t understand the seriousness of this case,” one user wrote.
“What a ridiculous excuse, this crazy lunatic,” said another.
But the chyron in the screenshot has been manipulated.
As of October 8, Moon has not yet issued an official statement on his daughter’s DUI case, although his party has issued a brief response stating that “drunk driving should never happen” (archived link).
Manipulated screenshot
A keyword search using some of the text in the chyron and “Yonhap News TV” revealed that the original report was published on YouTube on May 19, 2024, months before Moon Da-hye’s reported drunk driving incident (archived link).
The report is titled: “In response to Moon’s memoir, which touted ‘a first lady’s first solo trip,’ the People Power Party calls for an investigation by a special prosecutor.”
South Korean prosecutors have launched an investigation into allegations that Moon’s wife Kim Jung-sook invited herself on a diplomatic trip to India in November 2018, which Moon described as “the first standalone diplomacy by a first lady” in his memoir which were published in May (archived links here and here).
The East Asian country’s ruling and opposition parties have exchanged views on the issue, with Moon calling the claims “pathetic and embarrassing” attempts to denigrate the trip (archived link).
The modified screenshot matches the 47-second mark of the Yonhap report, but the chyron instead reads: ‘Moon’There are still distortions of evil intent…this was the first solo foreign trip by a first lady.'”
Below is a screenshot comparison between the spoofed news image (left) and the original Yonhap News TV report (right):
The same report was published on the Yonhap News TV website (archived link).
Multiple local news organizations published reports with similar headlines here and here after Moon’s memoir was released, quoting Moon as saying his wife’s visit to India was “the first solo trip by a first lady” (archived links here and here) .
AFP previously debunked reports misleadingly suggesting Moon went on television to defend his wife’s trip to India.
