Fabricated Trump Truth Social post seized upon by ousted S. Korean president's supporters

"Martial law is a rebellion? A comedy sound. Martial law and rebellion mean the opposite," reads the purported Truth Social post by US President Donald Trump, which was shared as a screenshot on Facebook on June 22, 2025.

The Korean-language Facebook post says this was the first time the US leader had mentioned ousted South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law on December 3, 2024 (archived link).

Then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell said at the time -- weeks before Trump was sworn in for a second term in office -- that Washington was "deeply surprised" and Yoon had "badly misjudged" the decision (archived link). 

Yoon's suspension of civilian rule, which was lifted hours later after a unanimous vote in the National Assembly, saw him impeached and then removed from office by the Constitutional Court on April 3.

"Indeed Yoon Suk Yeol was right and Yoon Again continues!" adds the Facebook post, which appears to reflect the views of the former president's supporters and uses a slogan adopted by those who believe his removal was illegitimate (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on June 23, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The same purported Truth Social post was shared in similar Korean-language Facebook, Threads and X posts as well as on South Korean forum Ilbe.

Yoon’s supporters have sought Trump’s support in hopes that he would legitimise Yoon’s martial law declaration, as both leaders have employed similar rhetoric about election fraud and alleged communist infiltration (archived here and here).

"Finally President Trump is coming to the rescue of President Yoon! We always knew he would," read a comment on one of the posts. 

Another said: "Trump understands that the martial law declaration was a necessity."

The Truth Social post, however, is fabricated.

There have also been no official reports about Trump commenting on South Korea's domestic political situation or the December 3 declaration of martial law.

Fabricated post

A search for the purported post on Trump's Truth Social feed and archives of his account, captured regularly by the Internet Archive, returns no matching results.

Moreover, a visual analysis of the purported post reveals inconsistencies with genuine posts on the Truth Social platform.

The fabricated post lacks a timestamp and date, which normally appear in the bottom right corner of Truth Social posts. The text in the purported post also fails to align with the figure for "ReTruths" as it should in genuine posts on the platform.

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Comparison between the falsely shared image (left) and a Truth Social post from Trump's account on June 22 (right), with its alignment and timestamp highlighted in blue by AFP

A visual comparison of the font used in the false post is also different from the font "Inter", which is used on the platform and can be previewed on Google (here and here).

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Screenshot showing differences between the text used in the fabricated post and the "Inter" font used on Truth Social

The US president's latest Truth Social posts in the days before and after June 22 -- when the fabricated post started to circulate in Korean-language social media posts -- are about the Iran-Israel conflict and US domestic politics (archived here, here and here).

AFP previously debunked multiple doctored images suggesting Trump had extended support to Yoon following his botched declaration of martial law.