Posts accusing South Korean judge of 'enjoying pornography' share manipulated image

Published on February 17, 2025 at 06:35
3 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have continued their attacks on Constitutional Court Justice Moon Hyung-bae, sharing a manipulated image appearing to show the judge commenting in a pornographic forum. Local media reported the image misled even Yoon's ruling party, which demanded the judge step down. But Moon's supposed comment was taken from a school forum that did not involve any sexually explicit material.

The image was shared on Facebook on February 13. It supposedly shows an online forum where Moon responded to a picture appearing to show a person with their legs open by saying: "It looks like you all are having no fun living life, seeing as you're all stuck here."

Moon is one of eight Constitutional Court justices who will decide on whether to formally remove suspended President Yoon from office over his abortive martial law decree in December 2024 that plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.

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Screenshot of the manipulated image shared on Facebook, captured February 14, 2025

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If the court upholds the impeachment, an election must be held within 60 days to choose a new president (archived link).

Moon, who is considered liberal-leaning, has been the target of misinformation leading up to the verdict, which AFP previously debunked (archived link).

Pro-Yoon users and Facebook groups shared similar images of Moon's purported comment .

According to South Korean news organisation News1, Yoon's People Power Party referenced Moon's supposed comment in a statement that demanded his resignation and attacked the judge for "consuming [pornography] as entertainment" (archived link).

The statement was revised to remove the reference after local media including OhMyNews debunked the image (archived link).

High school forum

A keyword search using South Korean search engine Daum led to Moon's original comment in a forum called "Daea High School, 15th class" made up of his high school classmates (archived link).

Moon's comment, in which he poked fun at his classmates "having no fun in life" was posted in April 2009 to a page in which the classmates engaged in a conversation involving light wordplay, none of which made references to pornography. The post contained no images.

Screenshot of Moon's original comment left on his high school class forum, marked in red by AFP

AFP did not find any sexually explicit material on the forum, which restricts most of its content from users who were not members.

Separate keyword searches on Google found the manipulated image earlier surfaced on February 12 in a forum supporting the PPP on the website DC Inside. This post has since been deleted (archived link).

Screenshot of a Google keyword search for the original post on DC Inside

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