FACT CHECK: Image Claim­ing To Show South Kore­an Forces Is Old

An image shared on X claims to show South Kore­an forces after South Kore­an Pres­i­dent Yoon Suk Yeoul declared mar­tial law.

After mar­tial law was declared in South Korea.

In Seoul, con­voys of spe­cial vehi­cles car­ry­ing mil­i­tary per­son­nel move through the streets. Heli­copters patrol the sky. pic.twitter.com/YeRyrMugpj

— Jür­gen Nau­ditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) Decem­ber 3, 2024

Ver­dict: False

The image is from Jan­u­ary 2024 and is unre­lat­ed to the cur­rent events in South Korea.

Fact Check:

The South Kore­an pres­i­dent declared mar­tial law but lat­er lift­ed it after the South Kore­an par­lia­ment vot­ed to end it, accord­ing to The Asso­ci­at­ed Press. The mil­i­tary did attempt to pre­vent par­lia­ment from assem­bling, per the out­let. (RELATED: Claim Michelle Oba­ma Regrets Endors­ing Har­ris Is False)

Social media users are claim­ing to show armored vehi­cles being deployed to Seoul, the capi­tol of South Korea. One user wrote, “After mar­tial law was declared in South Korea. In Seoul, con­voys of spe­cial vehi­cles car­ry­ing mil­i­tary per­son­nel move through the streets. Heli­copters patrol the sky.”

This image, though, is not from today or relat­ed to any mar­tial law enforce­ment. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the image is from Jan­u­ary 2024. A Kore­an news out­let report­ed at the time that it was not relat­ed to any actu­al mil­i­tary oper­a­tions.

“Accord­ing to the Defense Media Agency on that day, the 1st Secu­ri­ty Brigade of the Army Cap­i­tal Defense Com­mand con­duct­ed a mobile train­ing exer­cise using K808 wheeled armored vehi­cles (Baekho) in down­town Seoul to under­stand the oper­a­tional envi­ron­ment of Seoul and strength­en the readi­ness pos­ture,” the out­let report­ed.