Photo of South Korean police probe falsely shared as evidence of foul play in ex-president's suicide

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on September 1, 2023 at 11:09
  • Updated on September 1, 2023 at 11:25
  • 3 min read
  • By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea
A photo of a body being carried surrounded by onlookers has been shared on social media with a false claim that it is evidence of foul play in the suicide of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun in 2009. In fact, the photo shows police reenacting the events leading up to the former leader's death as part of an investigation that ultimately confirmed his death was a suicide, according to the country's leading news agency.

"Did they gather a crowd to murder him? This is a photo of Roh Moo-hyun's body being carried on someone's back," reads the Korean-language Facebook post on August 12, 2023.

"How is it within reason to think that someone injured with fractures can be carried like this? It means he was already killed. I do not believe Roh committed suicide. He was murdered on the orders of the Americans," the post continues.

Roh, who led South Korea from 2003 to 2008, took his own life on May 23, 2009 amid an ongoing investigation into charges of corruption. Roh left a suicide note that requested his body be cremated and buried in his village alongside a small tombstone, AFP reported.

Identical claims were shared on Facebook here and here as well as here on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured August 28, 2023.

South Korean broadcaster KBS reported at the time that Roh's sudden death and the subsequent police inquiry into its circumstances gave rise to a host of conspiracy theories, some of which suggested it may have involved foul play (archived link).

But the official police investigation and comments made by Roh's aides and close associates -- including former South Korean president Moon Jae-in -- concluded Roh's death was suicide (archived links here, here and here).

In fact, the photo shows police reenacting the circumstances surrounding Roh's death.

A reverse Google image search found the corresponding photo published by Yonhap News Agency on June 2, 2009, about a police reenactment of the events of the day of Roh's death (archived link).

The report contains seven photos of an actor reenacting the former president's actions on the day leading up to his suicide.

The fifth photo matches the photo shared in the misleading posts. It includes the caption: "Police investigating the events surrounding the death of late former president Roh Moo-hyun take part in a re-enactment under the Owl's Rock at Bonghwa Mountain in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, on the 2nd. This photo shows the reenactment of [a bodyguard] carrying a bleeding and unconscious former president Roh down the mountain."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the misleading posts (left) and the original photo published by Yonhap (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the misleading posts (left) and the original photo published by Yonhap (right)

The same photo was published in multiple other local news outlets, including Segye Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo (archived links here and here).

Yonhap's archives include another photo of the same scene showing the bodyguard carrying the actor taken from a different angle, alongside a similar caption that says the scene shows a police reenactment (archived link).

The Yonhap photos show figures present at the reenactment were police investigators, as seen by the tags on their clothing, as well as Roh's close associates such as Moon, who can be seen in the last photo.

The figure wearing a face mask was Roh's bodyguard who found the former president's body and was being investigated for his role in the incident, according to Yonhap.

Video footage of the re-enactment was also published by multiple local broadcasters, including KBS and MBC (archived links here and here).

Public crime scene reenactments conducted by police are common practice in South Korean law enforcement. They are often done to satisfy public demand for information, according to the Los Angeles Times (archived link).

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