Old S.Korea military parade clip falsely linked to Cambodia row
- Published on October 23, 2025 at 08:57
- 2 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
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South Korea has banned travel to parts of Cambodia in response to the killing of a Korean student whose death is linked to a scam centre gang, but rumours that Seoul had deployed troops are baseless. False posts that surfaced widely among social media users in Cambodia's rival Thailand feature an old video from South Korea's Armed Forces Day in October 2024.
"Breaking! South Korea prepared to use military forces against Cambodia," says Thai-language text superimposed on a video shared on Instagram on October 14, 2025.
"I want the Thai army to do the same," it adds, in an apparent reference to the longstanding border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia that escalated to deadly fighting in July, killing more than 40 people on both sides (archived link).
The post also includes an image of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and South Korean lawmaker Lee Un-ju, above text that reads: "South Korean MP raged: If Cambodia does not cooperate, she will urge the government to consider using military forces."
The video also surfaced on X and Facebook after a South Korean student was found dead in Cambodia after being reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a crime ring. Three Chinese nationals were charged with murder and online fraud and remain in pre-trial detention.
Seoul subsequently banned travel to parts of Cambodia and sent a team to the Southeast Asian country to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals (archived link).
South Korean lawmaker Lee Un-ju has said "military options should be considered" in a Facebook post on October 11 about the student's killing (archived link).
But there have been no official reports Seoul had deployed troops and the Embassy of South Korea in Thailand said on October 15 that claims the country could take military action against cross-border scammers "are not factual" (archived link).
A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes led to the same video shared on TikTok on October 2, 2024 (archived link).
The user -- who usually shares content from Seoul -- also posted other clips of the military parade during the 76th Armed Forces Day celebration in South Korea (archived here, here and here).
AFP geolocated the video to the Sejong-daero Road in Seoul's Jung district (archived link).
Photos from October 1, 2024 taken by an AFP photographer show tanks and military personnel parading along the road.
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