'Misleading Facts Based on Photos Taken at Specific Angles'
Tak Hyun-min "I Only Wrote the Fact That President Yoon Saluted the Rising Sun Flag"
Former Blue House Protocol Secretary Tak Hyun-min's post about President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to Japan was marked by Facebook as containing 'partly false information.'
Tak pointed out that during the Korea-Japan summit held on the 16th, President Yoon made a protocol mistake while inspecting the honor guard with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
On Facebook, he said, "I don't understand how to view a Korean president who does not show respect to his own national anthem but bows deeply to the other country's flag, and how that can be tolerated. During the honor guard inspection, each leader is supposed to salute their own national flag and pass by, but it is absurd that President Yoon saluted the Taegeukgi and then bowed again to salute the Hinomaru."
Tak also shared photos of President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida bowing during the Self-Defense Forces inspection, where only the Hinomaru is visible and the Taegeukgi is absent. This led to some misunderstandings that President Yoon bowed only to the Hinomaru.
The Facebook post by Tak was labeled with 'Partly false information. Verified by independent fact-checking organizations.' Facebook explained that the label was added following fact-checking by the French news agency AFP.
Photos taken from other angles show the Taegeukgi behind the Hinomaru, leading to criticism that the description of the Korea-Japan leaders only showing respect to the Hinomaru is a misrepresentation based on photos taken from a specific angle.
Tak has since deleted the post. Regarding this, he told Yonhap News, "I deleted the original post because it was all information that had already been reported anyway," and added, "Facebook said it was a 'misleading based on photos taken from a specific angle,' but I only wrote that President Yoon saluted the Hinomaru. There has never been a case where the visiting country's president saluted their own flag and then jointly saluted with the Japanese prime minister."
He continued, "I believe the implications and message conveyed by photos of the President of the Republic of Korea saluting the Hinomaru, or the two leaders saluting side by side to the Hinomaru and Taegeukgi, are inappropriate," and said, "Even if there was some agreement between the two countries, it is not appropriate to publicize scenes of the president saluting the Hinomaru."
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