Clipped video of Trump's meeting with Lee Jae Myung misleads online
- Published on November 5, 2025 at 04:59
- 2 min read
- By Anne CHAN, AFP Hong Kong
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As US President Donald Trump met world leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in October, an image purportedly showing Trump giving South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung the cold shoulder in public circulated on social media. The screenshot is taken from a video report that in fact shows Trump later smiling back at Lee and the duo shaking hands.
"Trump is a demon-revealing mirror. You can easily see who is close to the Chinese Communist Party, even its associates. South Korean leader, you're doomed," reads part of a traditional Chinese-language Threads post shared on October 30, 2025, implying that Trump's seeming indifference towards Lee is due to his alleged pro-China stance.
The post shows two images: one of Trump with a stern face as Lee appears to reach out to shake his hand and another one that shows the US leader shaking hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with a smile (archived link).
Taiwanese and Korean media such as CNA Taiwan, The Korea Times and The Korea Herald reported that Lee is perceived as leaning toward China for his pro-China comments (archived here, here and here).
Takaichi, on the other hand, is an outspoken backer of Taiwan, advocating security ties with the self-ruled island that China claims as its territory (archived link).
Trump met Lee on the sidelines of the APEC forum held in Gyeongju after the US leader visited Takaichi on October 28 in Japan (archived here and here).
The photo of Trump's long face and similar claims were shared elsewhere on Threads and X, with Taiwanese netizens backing Trump for purportedly giving Lee the cold shoulder.
One commented in traditional Chinese, "Trump is making a long face against this pro-China president.”
Another left a comment, "It’s like one is the little sister, and the other is just a random passerby."
However, the full version of the video shows that Trump did smile and shake hands with Lee.
The top right corner of the picture shows the watermark of Korean broadcaster YTN (archived link).
A keyword search on YouTube led to a video titled, "Trump's son created an unexpected menu item at the US-ROK summit dinner" (archived link).
The clip shows Trump making a serious expression as he took a picture with Lee. When Lee then extended his hand for a handshake, Trump noticed it seconds later, smiled back and shook Lee's hand.
During Trump's visit to South Korea, the US leader said he and Lee had "pretty much finalised" a trade deal that will see Washington steeply lower its tariffs on Seoul in return for a $350 billion investment in the US (archived link).
AFP previously debunked other misinformation related to Lee and Trump.
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