Image of Charlie Kirk meeting South Korean activist is doctored

Published on September 17, 2025 at 12:05
4 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

Days after US conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a speaking event at a university in the state of Utah, a doctored image depicting him alongside South Korean activist Jeon Han-gil circulated on social media. The posts claimed the pair had discussed "the movement to free" South Korea's impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol. However, the image was doctored from an old photo of Kirk and Kyle Rittenhouse, a man acquitted in November 2021 after fatally shooting two men and wounding another at protests in the state of Wisconsin.

"Days before his murder, US conservative hero Charlie Kirk met Jeon Han-gil and discussed the movement to free President Yoon Suk Yeol," reads part of the Korean-language caption of an image shared September 15, 2025 on the South Korean forum Naver Band.

The image appears to show the two activists in front of a backdrop for Kirk's youth political group Turning Point USA.

Screenshot of a Naver Band post captured September 16, 2025, with an orange X added by AFP

The image surfaced after Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during a speaking event on a university campus in the state of Utah on September 11 (archived link). Days earlier, Kirk was in South Korea and Japan hosting conservative events for local audiences (archived link).

Right-wing supporters of Yoon -- currently on trial for insurrection and other charges following his disastrous martial law bid -- have drawn parallels with Trump, echoing his false claims of voter fraud (archived link).

Jeon has been in the United States since August 25, attending political events with South Korean expatriates and broadcasting conspiracy theories on YouTube (archived here and here). Jeon claimed on his channel that he faced danger from forces linked to the South Korean government and had bought a bulletproof vest.

The same supposed image of him with Kirk spread in several other forums frequented by conservative users on Naver Band.

"Now I understand why Jeon said he bought a bulletproof vest. I am worried that there is a high possibility he may become a target like Kirk," one comment says.

Another reads: "Now major far-right figures like Jeon Han-gil are also in danger."

But the image has been doctored -- and there have been no official reports of Kirk meeting Jeon in the days before he was shot.

A reverse image search on Google led to a similar photo the Associated Press (AP) news agency published December 21, 2021 (archived link). The caption says it shows Kirk introducing Kyle Rittenhouse at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona alongside conservative influencer Jack Posobiec.

The image shared online was altered to superimpose Jeon's head onto Rittenhouse's body.

Screenshot taken September 17, 2025 of the original AP photo

Rittenhouse was acquitted by a jury over the August 2020 killing of two men during protests and riots against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse, who claimed he went to Kenosha to protect businesses from looters and act as a medic, was hailed as a heroic figure among many on the American right (archived link).

The same scene of Rittenhouse and Kirk appears in YouTube footage from the 2021 Turning Point USA event (archived link).

A separate reverse image search found the photo of Jeon spliced into the AP picture has circulated in multiple South Korean news reports since at least April 2018 (archived here, here and here).

Screenshot taken September 17, 2025 of Jeon's profile photo published in a 2018 Hankook Ilbo report

AFP previously debunked another doctored photo of Jeon receiving the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump.

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