FACT CHECK: Image Of South Korean President’s Mugshot Is Fake

An image shared on Threads claims to show a mugshot of South Korean President Yoon Suk Seol.

Verdict: False

The image has been altered. The original image is from a 2016 South Korean film.

Fact Check:

Yoon was charged with insurrection in January 2025 after he declared martial law in December 2024, according to BBC News. Yoon was arrested on Jan. 15, per the outlet.

Social media users are claiming to show Yoon as a prisoner in a blue jumpsuit. (RELATED: No, Video Does Not Show Trump Signing Executive Order On Crypto)

This claim is false. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the image is from “Proof of Innocence,” a 2016 South Korean film. The image in the Threads Post appears to superimpose Yoon’s onto the actor’s head.

Yoon’s image is from December 2024. It was published by the South Korean news outlet Yonhap. Furthermore, the numbers on the jumpsuit of the original image and the altered image are different.

AFP Fact Check also debunked this claim.