Altered clip of mayor candidate in North Korean military uniform misleads ahead of vote
- Published on May 28, 2026 at 05:48
- 3 min read
- By Hawon Jung, AFP South Korea
After a South Korean mayoral candidate drew flak for refusing to declare Pyongyang as Seoul's "main enemy", an altered video supposedly showing the politician in North Korean military regalia was shared in social media posts that fooled some users. The clip was flagged as being AI-generated by detection tools, and appears to have been modified from a genuine video the candidate posted on Instagram to put him in North Korean uniform and to trim down his full remarks.
"Kim Sang-wook = North Korean spokesman. 'North Korea is not (our) main enemy'," says the Korean-language caption of an X video shared on May 17, 2026.
Kim is running for mayor in the southeastern city of Ulsan in local elections slated for June 3 (archived link).
The 30-second clip depicts Kim in military uniform, adorned with multiple medals, resembling those worn by North Korean military officials at public events (archived here and here).
In the video, Kim says: "If North Korea threatens our lives and democracy, then of course it should be considered our main enemy. But if it does not threaten our people's lives or our democracy, then is there really a need to regard it as such?"
The two Koreas technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The isolated, nuclear-armed North has habitually issued threats against its sworn enemy, the United States, and the South -- where 28,500 US soldiers are stationed to guard against threats from the North (archived link).
The same video was also shared in similar YouTube, Instagram and X posts.
"The (North) Korean People's Army uniform? This is completely crazy," reads a comment on one of the posts.
Another asks, "Did he really say that while dressed like that? Is he crazy?"
Kim is running for mayor as a candidate for the centre-left Democratic Party, who he joined in 2025 after leaving the rival right-wing People Power Party (PPP). He left the PPP after criticising former president Yoon Suk Yeol for briefly imposing martial law in December 2024 (archived link).
The move angered some of his former PPP colleagues and supporters, who labelled him a "traitor" (archived link).
The circulating clip, however, has modified Kim's appearance and omitted parts of his full remarks.
Altered Instagram video
A review of Kim's social media accounts led to a similar video shared on Kim's Instagram account on May 6 that shows him wearing a blue jacket instead of a military uniform (archived link). The longer video indicates his remarks in the circulating clip were taken out of context.
In the complete footage, Kim responds to criticism from someone he described as a far-right YouTuber who he says accused him of failing to identify South Korea's "main enemy".
Kim stresses the need for "solid national security" after his remarks about the North, adding "If North Korea physically threatens us to the point of real danger, of course we must respond."
He also warned against those at home who "manufacture antagonism" or "needless hostility for their own political gain" -- a seeming reference to ex-leader Yoon, who is alleged to have sent military drones into North Korea in 2024 in at attempt to stoke inter-Korean tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law (archived link).
In the video, Kim also says: "So if there are forces deliberately creating unnecessary hostility on the peninsula, I believe those forces are truly our main enemy."
The circulating clip appears to have originated from an Instagram account that regularly shares satirical, AI-generated footage of political figures (archived link). The account holder labelled some videos with captions reading "AI-remastered" or "You guys know this is all AI-generated, right?"
An analysis of the clip using the Hive Moderation AI detection tool found the video is "likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content" (archived link).
The clip also has an unnaturally strong yellow tint, which has been reported as a specific quirk of AI-generated images, compared to the original video shared on Kim's Instagram account (archived here and here).
Neither Kim nor the Instagram user immediately responded to requests for comment.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation targeting politicians ahead of elections in South Korea, including one falsehood targeting Kim.
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