Protesters gathered in South Korea on May 25, 2024, to call for an independent investigation into allegations of government interference in an investigation into the death of a young Marine. However, a video shared in social media posts about the meeting shows another protest in October 2019, when hundreds of thousands of people called for the ouster of the scandal-tainted defense minister.
“Large crowd at a protest rally on May 25, 2024 calling for a special prosecutor investigation into the Marine Chae case,” said a YouTube video with more than 2.5 million views.
Chae Su-geun was a Marine who died during a flood relief operation in July 2023. According to reports, the 20-year-old was not given a life jacket.
The military launched an investigation into his death, which was quickly dropped after initially accusing officials of negligence (archived link).
South Korea’s opposition-led parliament has pushed for a bill to investigate allegations of government interference in the investigation.
But Yoon vetoed the legislation, sparking street protests calling for an independent investigation (archived link).
The video spread widely online, including on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, and on South Korean platforms Naver Blog, Ilbe and Jongto.net.
Comments on the posts suggested that social media users believed the video showed the May protest.
“All Navy veterans associations across the country must have taken action,” one person wrote.
Another said: “So many people showed up like this and no media reported about it?”
Protest of 2019
A reverse image search found the protest images shared online in 2019 – years before Chae Su-geun’s death.
South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo posted the footage on YouTube on October 3, 2019, saying conservative groups gathered that day (archived link).
A side-by-side comparison of the video circulating in fake social media posts (left) and posted by Chosun Ilbo (right) confirms that it shows the same incident.
After 21 seconds of the video, a red banner with the text can be seen “Overthrow of Moon Jae-in, arrest of Cho Kuk,” referring to the then-president and then-justice minister.
Red is the color of conservative parties in South Korea.
Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters took part in the rally in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square calling for Cho’s ouster (archived link).
Moon’s approval rating hit a record low after he appointed the scandal-tainted ally, who resigned weeks later (archive link).
Moreover, the meeting took place on May 25, 2024 near Sungnyemun Square, not Gwanghwamun Square. The two locations are approximately 1.8 kilometers (one mile) apart.
AFP previously fact-checked reports sharing the same video in protest against 2020 Covid restrictions.
