Photo of US navy vessel falsely linked to unsubstantiated claims of 'Chinese spy arrests' in South Korea

Published on January 31, 2025 at 09:41
4 min read
By Hailey JO, AFP South Korea

After a South Korean news outlet fed into far-right conspiracies by reporting that "Chinese spies" tampering with the country's elections were arrested during President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived suspension of civilian rule, social media posts shared a photo of a US navy vessel in Japan they falsely claimed had transported the purported detainees. The claims in the news report have since been refuted by South Korea's National Election Commission and US Forces Korea. The photo used as verification of the report's legitimacy was also taken in early January -- not the day after Yoon rescinded his botched declaration of martial law as the posts claimed.

The false claim, presented as part of a purported open-source investigation, was shared on YouTube on January 16, 2025.

The right-wing YouTuber, Shin In-gyun, told his 1.5 million subscribers there was news circulating online that 99 Chinese spies had been arrested during the six hours of martial law, declared by President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 3, 2024.

The report, by Sky eDaily, said the purported spies were arrested at a facility affiliated with the National Election Commission (NEC) in the city of Suwon. It said they were transported by the US military to a base in Okinawa, Japan, where they confessed to election interference.

"It is claimed that the detainees were transported on this ship," Shin said, as he pointed to a photo of a vessel. "Indeed, on that day, after 7:00 pm, the US navy vessel Guam entered Naha Port. This is a photo taken at that moment."

"A local resident of Naha took this photo. This resident photographs military vessels entering the port during morning and evening walks every day and shares them on his blog," he added.

Screenshots of the false YouTube video, captured on January 27, 2025

In a televised address to the nation on December 12, 2024 Yoon defended his abortive martial law bid by alluding to the unverified claims -- which have long swirled among far-right conspiracy theorists -- that South Korea's voting system had been infiltrated by state-sponsored hackers from communist forces (archived link).

"How can the public trust election results when the computer system that manages elections, the core of democracy, is so sloppy?" Yoon said, claiming the NEC had suffered "a hacking attack by North Korea" the previous year.

Yoon has also accused unidentified Chinese individuals of flying a drone to photograph a US aircraft carrier docked in Busan, as well as Seoul's spy agency building, among other claims.

His rhetoric has emboldened far-right supporters, triggering a fresh wave of misinformation targeting the commission and fuelling anti-Chinese sentiment.

Yoon was later impeached, arrested and indicted on charges of leading an insurrection over his attempt to suspend civilian rule (archived link).

Similar claims the photo shown by the YouTuber shows a US vessel that transported detained Chinese spies were also shared on Facebook, Threads, Ilbe and Daum Cafe.

Commenters appeared to buy into the false claim, with one writing: "Circumstantial evidence regarding the arrest of Chinese nationals, reported by Sky eDaily, has been revealed. Here we go, it's starting to emerge one by one!"

'Entirely false' report

The report cited in the false post has since been refuted by both the NEC and US Forces Korea.

An NEC spokesperson told AFP on January 17 that the arrest operation rumour is "completely not true", as no Chinese nationals were present at the training centre when Yoon declared martial law. The commission also rejected the false claim in a statement released on the same day (archived link).

US Forces Korea also told AFP on January 20, 2025 that the allegations in the report are "entirely false".

They added in an X post on the following day that no one from the US Forces Korea, US Forces Japan, the Defense Intelligence Agency or the Department of Defense participated in any such actions (archived link).

A reverse image search on Google of the photo of the US navy vessel shown in the false posts led to the same picture published in a Japanese blog post from January 5, 2025 (archived link).

It said the photo shows the US naval ship Guam, a high-speed transport ship, and was taken on January 4, 2025 at the Naha military port in Okinawa.

Screenshot comparison of the photo used in the false posts (left) and the original photo taken by Hideo Yamamoto (right)

Hideo Yamamoto, who runs the blog, provided the original photo to AFP and its metadata shows it was taken at 7:14 am on January 4, 2025 -- not shortly after 7:00 pm on December 4, 2024 as claimed in the false posts.

He told AFP on January 29 that the claim circulating online is "false".

"I was somewhat surprised to see the Guam docked and took photos for a very brief moment," the 73-year-old photographer said.

"The photo was taken from the opposite shore of Naha military port at the mouth of the Kokuba River" (archived link).

He said he does not know whether the Guam was docked at Naha on December 4, 2024, as he was not visiting the city at the time. He explained he lives in Nago, about an hour and a half drive away.

AFP has previously debunked other false claims fuelling anti-Chinese sentiment in the wake of Yoon's botched martial law bid here, here and here.

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