Posts attacking South Korea solar panel drive falsely share video from China

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 23, 2023 at 07:08
3 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

Footage of rolling hills covered in solar panels has circulated in social media posts falsely claiming it shows a mountain in South Korea. The posts accused former South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who pushed for investment in solar energy while he was leader, of spoiling the countryside. While South Korea has various hillside solar panels, the image shows a solar farm in China's southeastern Fujian province.

The video of green hills covered in solar panels was shared in a Facebook post mocking the environmental policy of former South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

The post lamented the "pitiful state of a country" that the ex-leader "dreamed of", an apparent reference to Moon's ambitious policy of scaling up South Korea's renewable energy production facilities, including solar energy, in a bid to make the country carbon neutral by 2050.

"The pine trees atop Mount Namsan have been cut down," the post added, sarcastically misquoting South Korea's national anthem which refers to pine trees on the mountain "standing firm".

Screenshot of the false claim shared on Facebook. Captured February 22, 2023

A task force launched by Moon's successor, Yoon Suk Yeol, has alleged that the ex-president's administration misused billions of won in taxpayers' money to fund solar energy projects, prompting a criminal investigation, the Korea Times reported.

Moon's party has denied the allegations and accused Yoon's administration of using the case for political gain.

The same video was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here; and on the South Korean platform Naver Band.

Chinese solar farm

While South Korea genuinely has several hillside solar power plants, including in Jangsu county and Danyang county, the social media posts show footage from China.

A reverse image search found a near-identical image published on Getty Images' website by a user named "zhihao," a photographer credited with various photos taken in China, largely showing industrial landscapes.

The photo's description says it was taken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. It reads: "There is a majestic solar power station on the misty hillside in the early morning."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in false social media posts (left) and the image published on Getty Images (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video shared in false social media posts (left) and the image published on Getty Images (right)

Getty Images published various photos of the same solar panels taken by the same photographer, including here and here.

A keyword search found footage of the same solar panels in a documentary posted on YouTube in 2018 by China's state-run media CCTV.

Simplified Chinese subtitles at the documentary's 20-minute, 16-second mark -- where the solar panels are first shown -- read: "Songxi County, Fujian."

Google Maps imagery of the Jiuxian township in Fujian shows the solar panels in the video, as seen below:

The snaking roads and layout of the solar panels correspond with the Getty Images photo in the screenshot comparison below:

Screenshot comparison of the solar panels in Getty Images' photo (left) and on Google Earth (right)

AFP previously debunked a photo of a different Chinese solar power plant falsely shared as solar panels in South Korea.

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