Posts falsely claim South Korean president 'ranked third' in US publication's list of greatest leaders
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 14, 2023 at 08:37
- 3 min read
- By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea
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"Fortune Magazine selected President Yoon Suk Yeol as number three on its list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders in 2022," reads the Korean-language claim shared here on South Korean social media platform Naver Band on August 2, 2023.
"Our country's reputation is rising rapidly."
The post includes a purported graphic that includes the Fortune magazine ranking logo alongside a photo of Yoon.
The doctored graphic and false claim were also shared on Facebook here, here and here.
But a spokesperson for Fortune Magazine told AFP the publication has not released a new ranking for 2022.
No ranking since 2021
The magazine's Chief Customer Officer Selma Stern confirmed on August 8 the magazine "hasn't published the World's 50 Greatest Leaders list since 2021".
In the 2021 list, published on May 12 of that year, Fortune ranked PayPal CEO Dan Schulman third -- behind then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the scientists responsible for developing Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna's mRNA vaccines (archived link).
Yoon was not included in that year's list, nor in any of the publication's previous rankings dating back to 2014 when it was first published (archived link).
Yoon's predecessor, former South Korean president Moon Jae-in, was ranked fourth in 2018 for his reformist policies and attempts to broker peace with North Korea (archived link).
South Korean media reported Moon's inclusion on the list here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
AFP did not find any credible reports or announcements about Yoon being included on the ranking.
Altered graphic
A reverse image search on Google found the graphic used alongside Yoon's photo in the misleading posts corresponded to a similar one posted on an Indian digital education website's blog post on March 27, 2016 (archived link).
The post is about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal placing 42nd on Fortune's 2016 list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders -- which matches the ranking on Fortune's website (archived links here and here).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the doctored graphic featuring Yoon (left) and the original graphic featuring Kejriwal (right):
The Kejriwal graphic includes the official Fortune ranking logo published in 2014 (archived link). But AFP found no other instance of the image on Fortune's official lists or websites.
A separate Google reverse image search found the picture of Yoon used in the doctored graphic matched his photo published on a website operated by South Korean broadcaster SBS (archived link).
AFP has debunked falsified claims of Yoon being ranked on a "world's most harmful leaders" list here.
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