Edited photo of Covid protest shared as 'S. Korean president impeachment rally in China'

"A protest in China calling for President Yoon's impeachment," read a Korean-language Facebook post shared on December 8, 2024.

The image, which includes a watermark from South Korean news outlet Newsis, shows protesters holding up signs that read, "Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol" and "Long live Lee Jae-myung," referring to the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party. 

Thousands of South Koreans called for Yoon's ouster over his ill-fated attempt to scrap civilian rule on December 3, which lasted just six hours (archived link). Lawmakers scuffled with soldiers in the parliament building and managed to vote the measure down, forcing Yoon into an embarrassing U-turn.

South Koreans living abroad also called for Yoon to step down, including in the United States, France and Australia, though AFP found no reports about such demonstrations taking place in China (archived links here and here).

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Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured December 9

Identical claims were shared on other Facebook groups made up of right-wing users, including here, here and here. 

South Korea and China have often clashed, with unfavourable views of China among Koreans reportedly rising to a record high in 2022 (archived link).

Among the sore points were accusations levelled by South Koreans that China was appropriating parts of its culture and history, including the origins of the traditional kimchi dish as well as the traditional hanbok dress (archived links here and here).

Social media users left comments indicating they believed the image was genuine.

One user wrote: "Why don't they mind their own business?"

"These Chinese should go and impeach Xi Jinping instead of meddling in another country's internal affairs," said another.  

But the image -- which originally shows an anti-Covid restriction protest in China -- has been doctored. It also features errors in the Chinese text seen on the "signs" held by protesters.

Covid protests

A keyword search on Newsis' website found the original image, credited to The Associated Press (AP), in a report from November 29, 2022 about a protest in Beijing against Covid-19 restrictions (archived link).

AFP found the photo -- alongside several others from the same protest -- on AP's database, which confirms it was taken in Beijing on November 27, 2022 (archived link).

"Protesters hold up blank papers and chant slogans as they march in protest in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022," the photo caption reads.

"Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China's powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party."

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Screenshot of the original Associated Press photo. Captured December 9

Below is a screenshot comparison between the doctored image (left) and the original image published by AP (right):

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Screenshot comparison between the doctored image (left) and the original image published by AP (right)

Protesters in multiple Chinese cities, including Beijing, held up blank A4-sized sheets of white paper in a sign of solidarity and a nod to the lack of free speech in China, AFP reported (archived link).

CNN and Bloomberg published the same photo in articles about the protest (archived links here and here).

AFP also captured video footage of the same protest in Beijing (archived link).

AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation about December's martial law declaration in South Korea, including false claims Yoon imposed a nationwide 11pm curfew and a photo falsely shared as a protest following his shock announcement.