This image from 2016 shows South Koreans protesting against then-President Park Geun-hye.
On 3 December 2024, Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, declared martial law during a televised address, The President’s move was reversed hours later after members of Parliament voted to block the move. Amid this, on social media, an image showing a sea of people doing protests has gone viral. While sharing the image users claim that “South Korean protesters march towards the presidential palace demanding his resignation.”
Let’s check the truth
Fact Check-
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a similar image uploaded on the report of Voice of America published on 3 December, 2016. The caption states, “Protesters occupy major streets in the city center for a rally against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016”.
Moving forward, we came across the same image on stock image website Getty images, it was also published on 3 December 2016 and stated that the picture is from the South Korean capital, Seoul, taken by “Chung Sung-joon”, and documents “crowds of protesters gathered and occupied the main streets in the city center to participate in a demonstration against South Korean President Park Geun-hye.”
ABC News report from 4 December 2016 states, “Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have rallied in Seoul in the sixth straight weekend of protests demanding the resignation of scandal-tainted President Park Geun-hye”.
The Constitutional Court in South Korea ruled in March 2017 to remove Korean President Park Geun-hye due to a corruption scandal, as the Korean Parliament adopted a memorandum to remove Park in December 2016 by a majority of 234 votes to 56, and Park was sentenced to 24 years in prison and a fine of 18 billion won, and a special presidential pardon was issued for her in December 2021.
Taking account of these evidences, we can understand that an old image of South Koreans protesting against then-President Park Geun-hye in 2016 has been shared as recent protests against the current President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Conclusion-
Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral image to be Misleading. This image from 2016 shows South Koreans protesting against then-President Park Geun-hye.
Title:Old image of protest shared as recent protests in South Korea
Fact Check By: Usha ManojResult: Misleading
