Screengrab from South Korean show falsely claims 'comedian ridiculed president's vegetable gaffe'

Published on April 8, 2024 at 10:33
3 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

Screengrabs of a South Korean comedy programme were altered to falsely claim it showed a satire of President Yoon Suk Yeol's comments on the price of spring onions during a visit to a supermarket in March 2024. The show in the false claim was aired in July 2020 -- years before Yoon's visit -- and did not make reference to his remarks. The false claim surfaced ahead of the country's legislative election on April 10, 2024.

"The green onion controversy has even made it onto cable," read a Korean-language post published on Facebook on March 26.

"Let's defeat [Yoon] with our votes!"

The post included two screenshots from the reality show "Don't be the First One" aired by local broadcaster JTBC, featuring husband-and-wife comedy duo Choi Yang-rak and Paeng Hyun-sook.

"What did you do?" Paeng says to her husband cutting up a bundle of green onions. "Don't you know how expensive green onions are?"

Text that appears on the screen suggests Choi replies by saying: "Why? I thought they only cost 875 won each."

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured April 4, 2024

The reference to the green onions' price appeared to be a jab at Yoon over remarks he made during a visit to a local supermarket on March 18.

Picking up a bundle of green onions -- a staple ingredient in Korean cuisine -- Yoon commented that the 875 won price tag was "reasonable", ignoring that the product was advertised at a discounted price, according to a local report (archived link).

The comment prompted heavy backlash from opposition parties, civic groups and online users, who highlighted that a bundle of green onions typically cost more than 3,000 won and accused the president of being tone-deaf about the country's cost of living crisis.

Speaking to local media, analysts pointed out the comments have underscored public discontent with the president's handling of the economy ahead of a pivotal parliamentary election on April 10 in which his party seeks to retake control of the legislature.

The same images were shared on Facebook here, here and here.

Comments on the misleading posts indicated several users were misled to believe the comedians actually referenced Yoon's green onion comments on a TV show.

Suggesting the comedian could face repercussions for mocking the president, one user said: "Is he going to be alright? They could go after him for saying that."

"Choi Yang-rak [the husband] is a true comedian. He knows how to use current events to make people laugh."

However, the comedians did not comment on spring onion prices in the programme -- the caption referring to the price of green onions was added.

Comedy episode

A keyword search on Google found the images correspond to scenes from an episode of "Don't be the First One" posted on JTBC's YouTube account in July 2020 (archived link).

The two screenshots correspond to the original clip's one-minute 46-second mark and its one-minute 44-second mark respectively. Below is a screenshot comparison between the images in the misleading posts (left) and corresponding sections from the original clip (right):

Screenshot comparison between the images in the misleading posts (left) and corresponding sections in the original clip (right), with timestamps marked by AFP

In the clip, Choi remains silent while his wife berates him for chopping the green onions badly. He does not speak about the price of the green onions, as the posts falsely claim.

The episode was a hit among fans, according to multiple local reports from July 2020 published here and here (archived links here and here).

The series -- which predated when Yoon was elected president in May 2022 -- was aired from May 2020 until August 2021, according to JTBC's official website (archived link).

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