Which is worse, fake news or false reports?

Kang Joo-an
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

A shocking photo of U.S. President Joe Biden kissing his archrival, Donald Trump, was featured on the 17th page of the Financial Times Weekend Magazine in January. If not for the bolded caption reading “Fake” underneath it, the photo would have gone viral. The picture was actually an illustration by visual artist Justin Metz meant to raise alarm about disinformation. The accompanying article cited the dangerous case of Russian President Vladimir Putin casually making a video call with a deepfake of himself during his country’s war against Ukraine.

Deepfakes have also entered the Korean political scene. Police are investigating a satirical video featuring President Yoon Suk Yeol appearing to condemn himself for a series of bad policies.

Some people oppose wasting law enforcement’s resources on such cooked-up material. But the lack of truth in traditional media also poses a large threat. Korean society is inundated with reports that later turn out to be false.

Many short-lived truths regarding the Democratic Party (DP) involve the plethora of charges against its leader, Lee Jae-myung. Lee’s vow, on the National Assembly podium, to voluntarily walk into a court hearing weighing the prosecution’s request for his arrest warrant, was headline news on June 19, 2023. But the leader went on a hunger strike when the day actually arrived. The legislature endorsed the warrant after some DP members betrayed the majority party. Those who’d refrained from doing so, fearing retaliation, breathed a sigh of relief — but were then pushed aside from the party’s nominations for the April 10 parliamentary elections.

The top news on Oct. 13, 2021 was Lee’s heralding of a partnership with former DP leader Lee Nak-yon. On social media, Lee Jae-myung thanked his predecessor for accepting the results of his razor-thin victory in the party’s primary. Do those news reports really match what’s happening now? In response to DP lawmakers’ vehement protests against their barring from the upcoming legislative election, Lee casually said, “Members are free to leave the party.” Even progressive scholars called the process “farcical,” led by a “whimsical” leader.

Fake news can be identified at close range. But falsehood poses a greater danger, as it tends to be revealed much later. And it is not only bred by the opposition.

During his campaign period in March 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol promised to frequent the pressroom as much as former liberal presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun had. But the press now cannot remember the last time that Yoon visited their room. When 30-something Lee Jun-seok became the governing People Power Party (PPP)’s leader in December 2021, Yoon — the conservative party’s candidate at the time — called him “a young party leader who could come by once in a century.” Lee later left the PPP and created his own party.

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has warned of a strong crackdown on fake news ahead of the April election. False news is more hazardous than fake news, and there is no protection against the former.

Let us look at claims from high-profile politicians, which are bound to join the ever-lengthening list of lies. PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon vowed to cut the number of seats in the legislature to 250 from its current 300 and to tie the salaries of lawmakers to the country’s median income. PPP floor-leader Yun Jae-ok offered to allow the National Election Commission to draw the electoral map. The DP leader even proposed ending the “politics of hatred and politics of conflict.” DP floor leader Hong Ik-pyo joined the chorus, offering to “restore politics through dialogue and compromise.”

Who will believe such news in the run-up to the legislative election on April 10?