Importance Score: 72 / 100 🔴
Following the South Korean Constitutional Court’s decision to remove former president Yoon Suk Yeol after his brief imposition of martial law, a fabricated BBC “commentary” accusing judges of corruption and pro-North Korea sentiments has resurfaced online. This false information, alleging judicial bias, contradicts the BBC’s actual reporting and has been confirmed as untrue by the broadcaster.
False BBC Commentary Targets South Korean Judiciary
A Korean-language graphic shared on Facebook on April 9, 2025, falsely attributes critical commentary to the BBC, stating:
- The BBC called South Korea “a crazy country that eats its own flesh” and a “strange nation that kills itself.”
- The commentary alleges that South Korea’s “judges and prosecutors are the main culprits of legal disorder.”
- It accuses a Supreme Court justice of corruption, claiming they “sold out the country.”
- The graphic’s final point asserts, “South Korea is a country ruined by biased beliefs and Juche ideology of its judges,” referencing the North Korean ideology of self-reliance.
On the same day, a right-wing YouTuber amplified these claims in a video titled: “British BBC commentary: South Korea on path to failure due to legal disorder.”
Context: Impeachment and Political Turmoil
The dissemination of these posts coincided with the Constitutional Court’s decision to uphold the impeachment of Yoon, stemming from his attempt to enact martial law in December 2024. Yoon justified his actions as necessary to protect South Korea from “anti-state elements” and perceived threats from North Korea.
Currently, Yoon faces a separate criminal trial, where he denies charges of insurrection. A conviction could result in a life sentence or the death penalty.
Widespread Dissemination of False Claims
Similar false accusations against South Korean judges, attributed to the BBC, have been shared on various platforms, including Facebook, X, South Korean online forums like Naver Cafe and Naver Blog, and websites such as NBN News Agency, Public Broadcasting System, and Seoul Administration News. This fabricated commentary has been circulating online since at least 2020, misleading some users.
Users Misled by Fake Commentary
Some comments indicate that users were deceived by the false information. One user commented, “The BBC commentary lays bare the full reality of our country. It’s humiliating,” while another stated, “The BBC really knows accurately.”
BBC Denies Authenticity of Commentary
Extensive keyword research on Google and searches within the BBC’s official website and archives yielded no results matching the purported commentary.
“We can say with some certainty that we didn’t publish this content,” the BBC Press Office stated in an email to AFP on April 23, 2025.
Woongbee Lee, head of BBC Korean, confirmed that the claims had “no real basis.” He added, “We confirmed that neither the Seoul bureau nor the Asia desk had ever published such reports or commentaries,” on April 21.
Contradictory Reporting
The tone and content of the fabricated commentary stand in stark contrast to the BBC’s actual coverage of Yoon’s declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment. In an April 4 explainer, the BBC characterized the court’s decision to remove Yoon as a “victory for South Korea’s democracy” and described his martial law bid as an “authoritarian power grab.”
A report from December 4, 2024, referred to South Korea as a “stable, prosperous democracy,” noting, “Yet Yoon claimed he was introducing military rule to save the country from dark forces.”