Song Young-gil attends a meeting with Russian President at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 24, 2017. ( POOL / MAXIM SHEMETOV)

South Korean ruling party leader becomes target of misleading PCR test claim

This article is more than one year old.
Published on January 18, 2022 at 08:57
2 min read
By Richard KANG, AFP South Korea

An image of a South Korean lawmaker who serves as the leader of the ruling Democratic Party has been repeatedly shared in social media posts that claim he "skipped the nose swab" when receiving a PCR test. The posts are misleading; the image has circulated in news reports since July 2021 about the ruling party leader being swabbed in both his nose and throat for a PCR test. A second photo of the same event shows a swab being administered in Song's nose.

The image of Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil receiving a PCR test was shared here on Facebook on December 28, 2021.

It shows a healthcare worker administering a swab inside his throat.

The Korean-language text above the image reads: "Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil is receiving a PCR test".

The Korean-language text superimposed on the image misleadingly claims that only a throat swab -- and not a nose swab -- was administered for the test.

It reads: "Look. They only swab their mouths while they are stabbing children's noses. What a political villain.

"People are asking 'what makes him so special that he skipped nose swabs?'"

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post. Taken January 17, 2022.

The image was shared ahead of the March presidential election. Recent polls indicate ruling Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung is in a tight race with opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, AFP reported.

An identical image was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, and here.

However, these posts are misleading.

Keyword searches found the image shared in the misleading posts was originally taken from this news report by South Korean online media outlet News Way published on July 16, 2021.

The report reads: "Democratic Party leader Song Yong-gil is receiving a PCR test at a temporary testing centre at the National Assembly".

The photo was published here by Yonhap News Agency on the same day.

Yonhap also published another photo here that shows a healthcare worker administering a swab inside Song's nose.

The caption translates as: "A lawmaker Lee Yong-bin, who is volunteering at the testing centre, is performing a PCR test on Democratic Party leader Song Yong-gil during the morning of the 16th".

Screenshot of a photo published by Yonhap News Agency. Captured on January 17, 2022.

Korean media outlets Herald Business and Oh My News also published the same photo on July 16, 2021 of a nose swab being administered for Song's PCR test.

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