Photos show S.Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol meeting Elon Musk in 2023, not 'after martial law'

Published on December 30, 2024 at 08:41
3 min read
By Hailey JO, AFP South Korea

Misinformation continued to surge online in South Korea following President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment over his botched attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. In the latest example, social media posts shared pictures they falsely claimed showed billionaire Elon Musk meeting with Yoon to convey the support of US President-elect Donald Trump. The photos in fact show a meeting from April 2023 when Yoon visited the United States.

"Tesla Chairman Elon Musk made a secret visit to South Korea aboard a private jet as a special envoy for President Donald Trump," read part of a December 12 Facebook post written in Korean.

"He had a meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential residence in Seoul's Hannam-dong and conveyed President Trump's support for Yoon. There is no more certain expression of support than this!"

The post included photos of Yoon and Musk shaking hands and sitting together, with the South Korean flag displayed beside the Tesla and SpaceX CEO.

Screenshot of the false post, taken on December 26, 2024

Yoon was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14, 2024 following a short-lived martial law declaration that plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.

He now faces Constitutional Court proceedings, which will determine within six months whether he will be reinstated, as well as criminal investigations for alleged insurrection and abuse of power (archived link).

He has repeatedly refused to comply with summons for questioning, pushing investigators to seek an arrest warrant for him (archived link).

Musk, the world's richest person, was an ardent supporter of Trump's White House campaign -- funneling money into door knocking operations and speaking at his rallies (archived link).

He has been an ever-present sidekick for Trump since his election victory and has reportedly held meetings with foreign politicians, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and British lawmaker Nigel Farage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, when the false posts started circulating (archived links here and here).

But there have been no official reports Musk met Yoon following the latter's martial law order.

The photos -- repeatedly shared with false claims on Facebook, X, Threads and in South Korean forums Naver Band, Naver Blog and Daehan Sinbo -- are old.

2023 Washington meeting

A reverse image search on Google led to the same photos published on the South Korean president's official website on April 26, 2023 (archived link).

The caption read, "President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on April 26".

Below is a screenshot comparison between the photos shared in the false posts (left) and those published by the president's office in 2023 (right):

Screenshot comparison between the photos shared in the false posts (left) and published by the president's office (right)

The same photos were published by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency (archived links here and here).

Yonhap's caption stated the meeting took place at Blair House, a residence opposite the White House that the US government uses to host special guests and visiting dignitaries.

The news agency reported Yoon called for Tesla CEO Musk to invest in a "gigafactory" in South Korea (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about Yoon and Musk meeting about the imposition of martial law in South Korea here.

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