South Korea election hit by misinformation

SEOUL: A photo of the frontrunner bowing to a Mao Zedong statue? News reports claiming US President Donald Trump endorsed a long-shot candidate? Not true, just examples of South Korea´s election misinformation problems.

With the country set to vote on Tuesday for a new leader to replace ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over a botched martial law declaration, there has been an explosion of false claims online.

Many of the claims focus on foreign interference, tapping into local fears of meddling by China, or fabricating support for the conservative camp from the United States. One of the most prominent falsehoods circulating online suggested weaknesses in the overseas voter registration system, with Chinese nationals exploiting the system to cast fraudulent ballots.

“Even foreigners can vote as long as they have an email address!” read one widely shared post, which AFP Fact Check debunked. Opposition leader and election frontrunner Lee Jae-myung is a popular target for disinformation.

Many claims focus on his purported allegiance to Beijing -- feeding into a long-running narrative among conservatives that casts progressive candidates as sympathetic to, or even controlled by, China. For example, photos debunked by AFP journalists showed Lee kowtowing to a Mao statue, and wearing a face mask with the Chinese flag on it.