Chinese flag flown outside South Korean govt building for state visit, not APEC summit

Published on November 4, 2025 at 09:30
2 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

As South Korea hosted world leaders for the APEC summit, social media users falsely claimed the Lee Jae Myung administration was showing favouritism towards Beijing by displaying only the Chinese flag outside the Seoul Central Government Complex. In fact, the flag was flown according to protocol to mark Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit, which coincided with the summit. The US flag was similarly raised at the same building just days earlier during President Donald Trump's visit.

"The spy Lee Jae Myung hoisted the Communist Chinese flag at the government complex," reads Korean-language text on a Facebook photo shared on November 1, 2025.

The photo shows South Korean and Chinese flags flying side-by-side outside the Seoul Central Government Complex, and its caption claims the government "only raised the Chinese flag" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, deliberately sidelining allies the United States and Japan (archived link).

The claim echoes a familiar talking point among South Korea’s far-right online communities, which have long accused Lee of being overly friendly toward Beijing (archived link).

These groups often seize on diplomatic gestures or symbolic events to frame his administration as "pro-China", a narrative that resurfaces whenever Lee engages in outreach to China or emphasises regional cooperation (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on November 3, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Similar posts on Facebook, Naver Band and Threads drew hundreds of comments accusing Lee of being a "Chinese puppet".

While the Chinese flag was displayed at the Central Government Complex in central Seoul between October 31 and November 1, this was separate to the concurrent APEC summit in Gyeongju (archived link).

According to China’s foreign ministry, Xi arrived in Seoul for a two-day state visit from October 31 to November 1 (archived link).

On such occasions, South Korea displays the visiting leader’s national flag alongside its own at key government buildings.

An official from the protocol department of the Seoul Government Complex told AFP on November 3 that flags of foreign countries are "raised upon request from the Foreign Ministry on occasions such as state visits by foreign leaders."

The official confirmed that the Chinese flag was hoisted during Xi's visit, and added that the US flag was also raised at the building during Trump’s state visit from October 29 to 30 (archived link).

Video taken near the complex during the Itaewon crowd-crush anniversary ceremony on October 29 in Gwanghwamun Square -- held in front of the government building -- shows both the South Korean and US flags flying during Trump's visit (archived link).

Screenshots from an MBC broadcast of the Itaewon crowd crush incident anniversary ceremony on October 29, 2025. US flag seen raised at the Seoul Government Complex building seen in the background, marked in red by AFP.

AFP previously debunked multiple similar claims used to accuse Lee's government of favouring China or being under Chinese influence.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail