Home > National > Politics

Image of anti-Yoon impeachment advocate receiving medal from Trump proven fake

Published: 17 Jun. 2025, 13:12

A doctored image of U.S. President Donald Trump giving an award to Jeon Han-gil [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A digitally manipulated image showing Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history lecturer and prominent opponent of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, receiving a medal from U.S. President Donald Trump is making the rounds on Korean social media — despite being demonstrably fake.

The photo, which falsely depicts Trump awarding Jeon the Presidential Medal of Freedom, circulated widely enough to prompt fact-checking by international media.

On Friday, AFP debunked the image in a report titled “Picture of Trump 'bestowing medal to S.Korean activist' is doctored,” confirming it was altered from a real photo of Trump presenting the award to Republican donor Miriam Adelson in 2018, originally published by The New York Times.

AFP identified the source of Jeon’s image in the doctored photo as a profile picture previously uploaded to a private academy’s website, where he worked as a lecturer. It also confirmed that Jeon’s name does not appear on the official list of U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients.

U.S. President Donald Trump awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Israeli-American physician, businesswoman and conservative political donor Miriam Adelson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, in Washington on Nov. 16, 2018. [AP/YONHAP]

“At first, I thought it was a bluff, but after seeing this photo of Jeon receiving a medal directly from Trump, I now believe the U.S. is backing him,” wrote the person who first posted the image. “The government should be prepared to face off against Trump if it goes after Jeon.”

The post also included a screen capture of Jeon’s recent comments on his YouTube channel, where he said, “Behind me are the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom,” and “If anyone touches me, I’ll report it immediately to the Trump administration.”

Jeon himself said that the photo in question was fake and that he never claimed to have received a medal from Trump.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]