The original is a color photo posted in the past on SNS by candidate Lee Jae-myung
A photo posted on Lee Kyung, spokesperson of Lee Jae-myung's camp, on his Facebook. From the left, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, during his childhood as a young worker, and Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate and former Prosecutor General, in his childhood / Photo by Facebook capture
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] It has been confirmed that the so-called 'Boy Worker Lee Jae-myung' black-and-white photo recently posted on social networking services (SNS) by Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, was originally a color photo. While some have raised suspicions that this was a 'dramatic effect' to emphasize the candidate's impoverished childhood, others have said, "What does the color of the photo matter?"
Lee Kyung, a spokesperson for Lee Jae-myung's campaign, posted a photo on his Facebook on the 7th during the Democratic Party presidential primary. The photo juxtaposed childhood pictures of Yoon Seok-youl, the leading presidential candidate from the People Power Party and former Prosecutor General, and Lee Jae-myung.
The spokesperson commented on the photo, saying, "Lee Jae-myung's clothes and Yoon Seok-youl's clothes. Looking at the photos, thoughts are as big as each person's capacity."
In the photo, the black-and-white image of Lee shows him wearing clothes that are large and shabby compared to his body size. In contrast, the color photo of former Prosecutor General Yoon shows him wearing a neat school uniform with a bow tie.
The issue lies in the fact that Lee's photo was originally a color photo. Previously, Lee himself posted the same photo in color on his Instagram in 2017.
Candidate Lee's so-called 'Boy Gong Jaemyung' color photo posted on his Instagram in 2017 / Photo by Instagram capture
At that time, Lee explained the background of the photo, saying, "It was probably when I was about 16 years old, working as a press operator at Daeyang Industrial. That's where I became a disabled worker due to an industrial accident."
Given this situation, some have raised suspicions that the black-and-white 'Boy Worker Lee Jae-myung' photo was used for dramatic effect. They suggest that by deliberately removing color to create a black-and-white photo and contrasting it with former Prosecutor General Yoon's childhood photo, the aim was to highlight Lee as a 'dirt spoon' (someone from a poor background).
On the other hand, there was backlash calling it a 'foolish debate.' Kim Eo-jun, a broadcaster who hosts the TBS current affairs program "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory," expressed dissatisfaction on the 14th broadcast, saying, "This is a foolish article. How can this be prominently displayed on the portal's top page?"
Kim pointed out, "This was an article that was prominently displayed on the portal main page this morning. Articles related to the presidential election will continue to come out, but so far, this article is number one."
He added, "What kind of article is this? The photo posted on SNS that I saw was black-and-white, but it turned out to be color. They removed the color to make it black-and-white," and questioned, "So what are we supposed to do about it?"
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