Nobel official did not name South Korean president as contender for peace prize

"During a lecture in the United States, the Nobel Committee's chairman praised President Yoon's accomplishments," reads a Korean-language Facebook post from October 5, 2023.

It features a photo of Toje, wrongly identified as committee chair, next to a speech bubble that says: "Yoon Suk Yeol is a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize for realising the Washington Declaration and putting an end to Moon Jae-in's fake peace."

Image

A screenshot of the false post shared on Facebook. Captured October 6, 2023

The Washington Declaration is a joint statement from Yoon and US President Joe Biden that was issued during a visit by the South Korean leader to the White House in April 2023 (archived link).

It expands the American security shield that protects Seoul against any attack from nuclear-armed North Korea. In return, South Korea reaffirmed its commitment to an international treaty aiming to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons (archived link).

Yoon has been rolling back the policies of his predecessor Moon Jae-in, who struck a more conciliatory tone towards Pyongyang. The current president has labelled Moon's approach "fake peace" (archived links here and here).

Critics say the Washington Declaration has shackled any South Korean ambitions to develop its own nuclear arsenal.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the five-person Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is appointed by Norway's parliament.

On October 6 the committee announced Narges Mohammadi as the winner for 2023 in recognition of her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and other work promoting human rights (archived link).

University seminar

The false claim about Yoon and the peace prize has been shared elsewhere on Facebook including here, here and here.

Comments left under these posts indicated some social media users were misled to believe Toje had genuinely named Yoon as a nominee.

"I am so proud of President Yoon," wrote one.

"Yoon Suk Yeol is following in the footsteps of Kim Dae-jung," said another, referring to a former South Korean president who won the peace prize in 2000.

However, footage of the seminar in California shows Toje did not mention Yoon or any nominees. The Norwegian Nobel Institute, which acts as a secretariat for the Nobel Committee, has told AFP that it never releases names.

A reverse image search on Google found the same photo of Toje was published on the website of the Soka University of America on February 14, 2023, in a report about a seminar he attended at the institution (archived link).

According to the report, Toje took part in a discussion on January 31 with a university professor about the need for a concerted global effort to control nuclear arms.

A video of the entire seminar was published on the university's YouTube channel on February 28 (archived link).

In the hour-long video, Toje delivers a speech on the role of the Nobel Peace Prize before taking questions from the audience.

While North Korea's nuclear arsenal is mentioned in one exchange with an audience member, Yoon is not brought up in any way throughout the event.

Secrecy rule

The Norwegian Nobel Institute previously told AFP it "never confirms or comments upon who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The names of the nominees are only released after 50 years".

The selection criteria are outlined here on the institute's website (archived link).

But people eligible to put forward nominations -- including former laureates, lawmakers and cabinet ministers from any country -- are free to reveal the name of the person or organisation they have proposed, according to an AFP report (archived link).

AFP did not find any report or announcement that Yoon had been nominated for the Nobel honour.

AFP previously debunked a similar false claim that Toje had named Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the number one contender for the peace prize.