Image of South Korean president edited to falsely claim he swore during speech on budget cuts

Published on February 16, 2024 at 08:57
Updated on February 16, 2024 at 09:48
3 min read
By Hailey JO, AFP South Korea

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol did not hurl expletives at a member of the public who quizzed him on spending cuts, as incorrect subtitles added to images of the leader speaking suggest. Yoon pledged to increase the budget for research and development (R&D) following cuts to the sector during his conversation with the man and did not insult him.

Warning: This story contains strong language

"Yoon Suk Yeol throwing a fit when a citizen mentions the R&D budget," reads a post from January 18, 2024 on South Korea's Etoland platform.

The post shows a member of the public speaking to Yoon during a policy briefing session on January 4 in Yongin, a science and technology hub south of Seoul.

"Last year, the R&D budget was significantly reduced," the man says, according to Korean-language subtitles on the screenshot.

"Recently, among the researchers I have worked with, I have seen many quitting their jobs."

According to the incorrect subtitles, Yoon replies: "Because you guys keep bullshitting about the R&D budget, we'll significantly increase it. We only cut R&D by 5 trillion Korean won, so stop bullshitting."

Screenshot of the Etoland post, taken on January 19, 2024

The post criticises Yoon's "vulgar way of speaking" and his suggestion that five trillion won ($3.7 billion) was not a significant budget cut.

Yoon's administration slashed its budget for research and development for 2024 by 4.6 trillion won, prompting outcry from the scientific community (archived links here and here ).

Fabricated captions

The same screenshots with incorrect subtitles also circulated on South Korea's Inven platform, while a video of the conversation with the fake subtitles was posted on YouTube.

However, the full conversation between Yoon and the member of the public shows the president did not swear at him.

The full discussion was streamed by state-run television KTV a day after the briefing took place, showing the more than one-hour long policy briefing where dozens of citizens were invited to express their views on a range of topics (archived link).

The member of the public -- who introduced himself as the owner of a small business making and exporting car parts -- asked Yoon about the research and development budget from 38:44 (archived link).

Replying to the man later in the video, after hearing from other members of the public, Yoon said: "I will drastically increase the R&D budget during my tenure. However, for now, we have reduced it a little, but not by a lot."

He did not utter the expletive falsely attributed to him in social media posts.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the images with incorrect subtitles (left) and with correct subtitles in KTV's video (right):

Screenshot comparisons of the images with incorrect subtitles (left) and with correct subtitles in KTV's video (right)

In 2022, Yoon was genuinely caught swearing after a brief meeting with US President Joe Biden at the Global Fund in New York.

His office sued local broadcaster MBC, claiming it had misrepresented comments caught on a hot mic in which he appeared to insult the United States.

A Seoul court later ruled in favour of Yoon, finding his comments were not clear due to background noise. MBC has reportedly appealed the decision (archived links here and here).

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