Fabricated news screenshot falsely links S. Korea, Japan leaders' drum performance to Yoon Suk Yeol trial
- Published on January 20, 2026 at 07:21
- 2 min read
- By Hailey JO, AFP South Korea
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Yoon Suk Yeol during a hearing in January 2026 over the former South Korean president's disastrous declaration of martial law. Social media posts shared a fabricated screenshot that appeared to show a news report linking a drumming session by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to Yoon's trial. It was in fact made by combining a picture of the leaders playing drums and a real but unrelated breaking news chyron.
"A drum duet by the South Korean and Japanese leaders, celebrating the death penalty sought for Yoon Suk Yeol!" reads in part a Korean-language Threads post shared on January 13, 2026.
"The breaking news hit at an astonishingly precise moment... It felt almost unreal."
The post contains a picture of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi taken during a drumming session on January 13 after the pair held talks in Tokyo on strengthening cooperation on economic security, as well as on regional and global issues (archived link).
A breaking news chyron can be seen in the image that says Yoon "smiled" at the moment prosecutors sought the death sentence for his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
The disgraced ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule plunged South Korea into months of political turmoil, now faces multiple trials over actions taken during that debacle and its chaotic aftermath.
During a hearing on January 13, prosecutors accused the former president of being the ringleader of an "insurrection" motivated by a "lust for power aimed at dictatorship and long-term rule" (archived link).
Yoon was seen smiling in court as prosecutors demanded the death penalty (archived link).
In a separate trial, a judge found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him and jailed him for five years.
The image circulated across platforms including Facebook and X, as well as on local online forums such as DC Inside and Ruliweb.
"Was this on TV Chosun?" one user asked, while another replied: "It looks like Yonhap News".
But the image was in fact created by inserting a chyron from a report on Yoon's trial into the picture of Lee and Takaichi.
A keyword search on YouTube found the chyron originated from a YTN breaking news broadcast covering Yoon's final insurrection trial hearing on January 13 (archived link).
In the original YTN footage, the chyron appears over courtroom visuals, not footage of Lee and Takaichi.
YTN published reports of the pair's drumming session, but they feature different chyrons (archived here and here).
AFP also distributed the picture seen in the false post and other visuals of the leaders drumming.
At the suggestion of Takaichi who used to drum in a heavy rock band as a student, the two leaders played two K-pop songs (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other misleading claims targeting South Korean politicians.
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