Old military event picture falsely portrayed as night of S.Korea martial law

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late on December 3 before he was forced into a U-turn after lawmakers faced down soldiers at parliament and voted to overturn the measure as thousands protested outside. But a picture that ricocheted across social media worldwide does not show tanks rolling into the capital Seoul after Yoon's shock announcement. The photo dates back to news reports from January 2024 about a military exercise in the city.

"Breaking! South Korea undergoes coup! Tanks are moving into Seoul as emergency martial law goes into effect," read Thai-language text superimposed on a TikTok video shared on December 3.

The video showed a still image of tanks on a highway.

The same picture spread in similar posts in Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese, Malay, Burmese and Korean after Yoon plunged the country into political chaos with his attempt to scrap civilian rule on December 3.

Yoon sent special forces and helicopters to parliament before lawmakers forced him to rescind the order by rejecting his decree.

The unpopular leader narrowly survived an impeachment motion in parliament even as huge crowds braved freezing temperatures to call for his ouster (archived link).

Despite remaining in office, a clutch of investigations has been closing in on Yoon and his close allies, including a probe for alleged insurrection.

The circulating picture, however, predates Yoon's martial law declaration by several months.

Military drill

A reverse image search on Google found the photo in an article by South Korean newspaper Seoul Shinmun from January 27, 2024 (archived link).

It reported on a military exercise involving 12 armoured vehicles and about 40 soldiers conducted in the early hours of January 25.

The vehicles crossed the capital's Dongjak Bridge and passed through downtown Seoul as part of the training, the report said.

It also included a link to footage of the tanks posted on January 25 by KFN News, a YouTube channel run by South Korea's Defense Media Agency (archived link).

According to the video's description, the vehicles were conducting a military drill to "demonstrate their determination to firmly defend the capital."

At the video's 59-second mark, the same scene in the viral picture is visible.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the false TikTok post (left) and the same image seen on the YouTube video (right):

AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation about December's martial law declaration in South Korea, including false claims Yoon imposed a nationwide 11pm curfew and a photo falsely shared as a protest following his announcement.

December 10, 2024 This story was amended to fix wording in the intro.