Photo shows S. Korean politician hospitalised from hunger strike, not 'maskless' during 2024 Covid infection
- Published on August 28, 2024 at 04:34
- 4 min read
- By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea
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An image of a TV screen displaying a news report with a Korean-language chyron that read "Fourth day since [Lee] admitted to hospital in Incheon" was shared on Facebook on August 26, 2024.
The news report appears to show former Democratic Party chairman Lee sitting in a hospital bed without a face mask, while two men in suits at his bedside are both masked.
"Typical Korea. The person who is sick isn't wearing a mask while those who are not are wearing them. In developed countries, sick people are the ones that wear masks," read the Korean-language caption.
"People can lie but photos don't lie, this shows how little respect (Lee) has of others," the caption continued.
The claim surfaced days after Lee was diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalised in Incheon -- about 33 kilometres (20 miles) west of Seoul -- on August 22.
The opposition leader was later discharged on August 27 (archived link).
Nearly identical claims were shared on Facebook here, here and here.
Comments on the posts criticised Lee for flouting safety rules while in hospital for Covid-19, indicating users believed the image was recent.
"Either he's pretending to be sick, or he doesn't care about others," one user wrote.
"This guy seems to always get special privileges," another wrote.
A keyword search using on-screen text from the screenshot found the image corresponds to a news report by Channel A aired on August 25 about Lee's hospitalisation for Covid-19 (archived link).
But the footage includes a label that reads: "File footage".
The footage was in fact shot in September 2023, when Lee was hospitalised after a hunger strike -- not due to Covid-19.
Footage from October 2023
A reverse image search on Google found the footage from a report aired by broadcaster MBN on September 28, 2023, showing Lee receiving lawmakers from his party while recovering from a hunger strike at a hospital in Seoul (archived link).
"Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung today (28th) received a briefing on the Seoul Gangseo district chief by-election from party secretary general Cho Jeong-sik. Let's look at the footage," the video's description reads.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared alongside the false claim on Facebook (left) and the corresponding footage published by MBN on September 28, 2023 (right):
Lee carried out a 24-day hunger strike from August 31, 2023, to decry what he called the Yoon Suk Yeol government's "destruction of democracy". He was admitted to hospital on September 18 and ended his strike five days later, though he remained in recovery at the hospital until October 9 (archived links here and here).
Footage of his hospitalisation was also streamed live by public broadcaster KBS on September 28, 2023, and used in a report by Channel A in October 2023 (archived links here and here).
Photos of Lee receiving the lawmakers were also widely published in reports from September 28, including here and here (archived links here and here).
Lee's hospital gown in the footage shows the logo of the Green Hospital in western Seoul -- not Incheon -- where Lee stayed while recovering from his hunger strike in October 2023 (archived link).
AFP confirmed with a Democratic Party spokesperson that Lee was admitted to a hospital in Incheon for Covid-19 in August 2024, but could not find any images of the politician's latest hospitalisation.
AFP has previously debunked false claims about Lee's hunger strike here.
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