Old photo misrepresented as 'South Korean president's commute' in 2022
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 8, 2022 at 04:48
- Updated on June 8, 2022 at 06:08
- 3 min read
- By Richard KANG, AFP South Korea
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"A scene of Yoon Seok-yeol's commute. What a waste of resources. They are wasting tax, causing inconvenience to the public," reads the Korean-language claim shared on Facebook on May 20, 2022.
The text superimposed on the photo reads: "Fuck. It looks like North Korea."
Yoon Seok-yeol, who was sworn in as South Korean president on May 10, 2022, has moved both the presidential office and the presidential residence out of the Blue House, and opened the compound to the public, AFP reported.
A day after his inauguration, Yoon made his first commute between his private residence in Seoul's Seocho district and the new presidential office in the Yongsan presidential in Seoul, local media reported.
He will continue to commute daily while the foreign minister's official residence is converted into the new presidential residence.
The photo has been shared more than 1,500 times after it circulated alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here, as well as on Twitter here and here.
Comments on the posts suggested that some social media users were misled.
One user said: "Why doesn't he invest that money into improving public transport? Didn’t he say he wants to communicate with ordinary people? If he really wants to do that, he should take public transport instead of doing that."
Another user wrote: "What a huge burden to Seoul traffic."
However, the claim is false.
A reverse image search on Google found the photo was previously published in this report by South Korean newspaper Edaily on February 25, 2013, titled: "[Photo] President Park's car procession passing by Gwanghwamun."
"President Park Geun-hye's motorcade is heading to the Blue House after attending the celebration at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul after the inauguration ceremony of the 18th president on the afternoon of the 25th," the photo's caption reads.
Park was sworn in on February 25, 2013, and removed from office on March 10, 2017, following a corruption scandal.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the picture shared in the misleading post (left) and Edaily's 2013 photo (right):
The same photo was also published in reports about Park's motorcade on the day of her inauguration by local media outlets Nocut News here and News 1 here.
AFP geolocated the road to Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul.
Gwanghwamun Square is situated north of Yoon's residence and the presidential office.
Below is a screenshot of Naver Map that shows the most direct route between Yoon's private residence in Seoul's Seocho district (circled in green) and the new presidential office in the city's Yongsan district (circled in red).
Gwanghwamun Square (circled in orange) is located north of both locations:
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