Coldplay did not endorse candidate in South Korean leadership race

Published on April 23, 2025 at 05:49
3 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

As South Korea prepares for snap polls triggered by ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, a video surfaced online with fabricated subtitles that make it appear as if Coldplay frontman Chris Martin endorsed presidential hopeful Na Kyung-won during the band's recent concert in Seoul. In fact, Martin was jokingly nominating his bandmate Will Champion for president. A similar misleading clip was shared by Na's official social media accounts but was swiftly taken down following a backlash from fans and online users.

"Endorsement of candidate Na Kyung-won by the world-class rock band Coldplay," reads the Korean-language claim shared on Facebook on April 21, 2025.

The 12-second clip shared in the post features Coldplay's vocalist Chris Martin saying: "Every time Coldplay comes to South Korea there is no president. However, I would like to suggest one person to be president of Korea."

The clip's audio then cuts off, but Korean-language subtitles read: "That is candidate Na Kyung-won."

The British band performed in South Korea in mid-April as part of their "Music of the Spheres" world tour, drawing tens of thousands of fans (archived link).

After South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of former president Yoon, Na -- a prominent conservative politician from the People Power Party -- announced her intention to stand in the June 3 presidential election (archived link).

She was eliminated in her party's presidential primaries, however, on April 22 (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on April 22, 2025

The democratic country has been effectively leaderless since December, after Yoon attempted to subvert civilian rule and was quickly impeached by lawmakers and suspended from office (archived link).

The same clip circulated in other Facebook groups supporting conservative politicians in South Korea claiming Coldplay publicly endorsed Na during the concert.

"Even Coldplay supports Na Kyung-won! What a moment to remember," read a comment on one of the posts.

Another said: "They recognise leadership when they see it."

The Korean-language captions, however, were fabricated and the clip omits the final part of Martin's remarks.

Fabricated subtitles

A reverse image search led to a longer clip posted to a South Korean forum on April 19 (archived link).

"Every time Coldplay comes to South Korea, there’s no president," Martin says in the unedited, 51-second clip.

"Now, of course, I understand why you need a president, although I believe everybody is equal and everybody has equal rights to be on Earth," he continues.

"However, I would like to suggest one person to be president of Korea, and that is our drummer Mr Will Champion."

The line is followed by laughter and cheers from the audience; Champion is then shown waving to the crowd.

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false Facebook post (left) and a corresponding clip posted on South Korean forum Inven (right)

The clip also corresponds to the 1:41:00 section of audience footage of the concert held at Goyang Stadium on April 18, as posted to YouTube.

There is no mention of Na by Coldplay in the concert video.

Multiple local outlets reported that a similar clip with fake subtitles suggesting Coldplay had endorsed Na had been posted by her campaign accounts but was deleted after online criticism (archived here, here and here).

The reports said fans criticised the campaign's misleading use of a global artist's remarks for political gain.

Another outlet, CBS Nocutnews, reported that while South Korean law forbids the creation, editing and distribution of "deepfake" materials for election purposes, the country's election commission concluded Na's use of the Coldplay clip was closer to a parody and did not constitute an election law violation (archived link).

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