Manipulated newscast shared online as 'North Korean directive to agents in the South'

"A North Korean directive to Jeondaehyeop," reads the Korean-language Facebook post shared on April 18, 2025, referring to a defunct South Korean student organisation from the 1980s said to have ties with North Korea (archived link).

It goes on to say the group's members will be the "first to be shot" when North Korea takes over, as they would no longer serve any purpose.

It also includes a nearly six-minute video, which appears to be a North Korean state media broadcast, interspersed with various images and clips of South Korean society. 

It begins with the anchor saying pro-North Korea student activists in South Korea have "finally seized power" and purportedly gained control of all of the South's government and civil institutions. 

"Only two objectives remain, the elimination of US forces in South Korea and the conservative opposition," the anchor appears to say. 

He purportedly goes on to say the administration of former leader Moon Jae-in had plans to "destroy South Korea's economy" and "completely wipe out South Korea's liberal democracy to pave the way for 100 years of dictatorship under the Democratic Party."

Jeondaehyeop's name can be seen in the clip's top-right corner.

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Screenshot of the false clip shared on Facebook, captured April 25

During his five-year term, the dovish Moon held three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- a policy of engagement that critics said had seen Seoul make too many concessions to its wayward neighbour (archived here and here).

The same video was shared alongside identical claims on various Facebook groups supporting South Korean right-wing politicians.

AFP has debunked false or misleading narratives regularly shared in these groups, which accused Moon and other liberal South Korean politicians of being subservient to the communist regimes of North Korea and China.

Comments on the clip indicated some users believed the video represented actual orders from North Korea to its agents in the South. 

"The country [South Korea] is surely in dire straits if such orders from the North Koreans are openly circulating," one user wrote. 

Another wrote in reference to the South's spy agency, "this is direct evidence the Democratic Party is in cahoots with the North. Why isn't the National Intelligence Service investigating this?"

North Korean footage

But a combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found footage of the anchor used to make the manipulated video matches a New Year's broadcast from the North's Korean Central Television in January 2014 (archived link).

The original broadcast shows newscasters reporting on various ceremonies held throughout the country to commemorate the new year, as well as greetings received by Kim Jong Un from various foreign missions.

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Screenshot comparisons between the false video (left) and the original North Korean broadcast posted to YouTube

The footage contains no mention of Jeondaehyeop or South Korea.

A keyword search on Google found the video's narration matched a statement that another student group -- also called Jeondaehyeop -- published on its website on July 11, 2019, aimed at corporations in South Korea (archived link).

Taking its name from the defunct left-wing group from the 1980s, the contemporary Jeondaehyeop has the opposite ideology and aims to "build a free and fair society" by opposing "current politicians guided by anti-civilisation and anti-rational principles," according to its official website (archived link). 

One of its members was indicted for trespassing during Moon's term after putting up large posters around various university campuses criticising him as a spy for China, though later acquitted by a local court (archived link).