Altered footage exaggerates proximity of North Korean weapons and soldiers' movements near border

A manipulated image showing North Korean self-propelled artillery and soldiers stationed near the coast of Kaepung County, North Korea, purports to be taken from a Starbucks store at the Aegibong observatory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. (X)
A manipulated image showing North Korean self-propelled artillery and soldiers stationed near the coast of Kaepung County, North Korea, purports to be taken from a Starbucks store at the Aegibong observatory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. (X)

AI-manipulated images and videos making North Korean artillery appear to be just outside a Starbucks in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, have been circulating on social media, according to a report by NK News.

The US-based outlet, which specializes in coverage concerning North Korea, reported Wednesday that the footage appears to have been created by altering real photos published by South Korean news outlets, including Yonhap News Agency. The original images showed North Korea’s 122 mm self-propelled artillery deployed near Kaepung County across the border on Oct. 21.

The altered footage makes the weapons appear much closer to South Korea than they actually are. Some clips also show North Korean soldiers surrounding the artillery, looking toward the South through binoculars and pointing across the border.

Most of the images feature the Starbucks on the second floor of Aegibong Observatory in Gimpo, which opened in November 2024. Located just 1.4 kilometers from North Korea's Kaepung County, the store has attracted a steady stream of tourists since opening, drawn by its unique views of North Korean villages and mountains through its windows.

The manipulated images and videos emerged amid heightened tensions along the inter-Korean border following the explosion of two North Korean land mines in the Demilitarized Zone last month.

"Such deepfakes could affect not only financial markets but also perceptions of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula," Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told a local news outlet.


cjh@heraldcorp.com