Debunked fake news has continued to circulate online in South Korea, despite a lack of any sort of evidence.
Last week, US Forces Korea explicitly addressed a recent "exclusive" report that 99 Chinese spies had been arrested and had confessed to rigging elections in Korea, labeling it as "entirely false" on social platform X. In a follow-up message, USFK mentioned the outlet by name, "all information is false from Sky Daily, the DOD (Department of Defense) and USFK have both stated the claim is false."
Earlier, Sky Daily -- the "internet newspaper" that initially reported on the case -- reported that Chinese spies were apprehended in December and handed over to USFK.
Sky Daily claimed afterward that the supposed operation was led by the DIA under the DOD, not by USFK, and that USFK had no authority to refute the mission. The media outlet claimed the "arrest of Chinese officials" was led by Donald Trump's administration, and the former Joe Biden administration would not know about it.
USFK's original statement on X was issued on Jan. 20, still technically under the Biden administration, hours before Trump's inauguration. Subsequent replies came the next day.
Sky Daily's counterpoint contradicts USFK's aforementioned statement that the DOD shared the same views with US forces here. Trump was not the president of the US at the time of the supposed arrests on Dec. 3-4, 2024, and had no authority over military operations.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently under arrest and being held for a criminal investigation while facing an impeachment trial for insurrection and power abuse concerning his Dec. 3 martial law declaration, appears to have believed this debunked fake news. His legal team referred to this report in the second hearing of his impeachment trial, saying, "It was not a major news outlet, but there was news that 90 Chinese people were investigated at a US base in Okinawa (in Japan), and that they confessed to election rigging."
The unconfirmed claim that recent major elections in Korea were rigged -- including the 2020 and 2024 parliamentary elections in which conservative factions suffered crushing defeats at the polls -- was among the reasons Yoon gave for his controversial declaration of martial law.
Sky Daily, founded in 2011, did not cite evidence or specific sources behind its claims. When approached by Mindle -- an independent civic media outlet -- officials from Sky Daily refused to reveal the source and were quoted as saying, "There is no way the USKF would release a statement via SNS (social media)."
It was revealed last week that the 150 concluded legal cases related to election rigging or mishandling claims had all been dismissed by the court in the last five years, as not one of them presented compelling evidence of election rigging. An additional 32 cases have not yet concluded.
Multiple investigations by authorities have been conducted on such claims, the majority of them since Yoon became president in 2022. None uncovered substantial evidence.
Despite shaky grounds and open denial from USFK, news related to supposed Chinese election rigging and Yoon continue to circulate online.
South Korean police on Thursday said they were looking into the media outlet and journalist who wrote the article on possible charges of defamation and obstruction of the duties of public officials.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
