How anti-China disinformation shaped S Korea’s year of crisis

YOON Suk Yeol’s botched attempt to impose martial law last year plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades, providing fertile ground for disinformation to grow.

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A common refrain, posted on right-wing forums, amplified by YouTubers and echoed by lawmakers: China was to blame.

Yoon supporters claimed Beijing had infiltrated protests, funded his impeachment campaign and manipulated online opinion ahead of the June snap election that brought opposition leader Lee Jae Myung to power.

Yoon himself fuelled the suspicion last December during televised remarks defending his failed decree, warning that “forces linked to North Korea and China are threatening our democracy from within”.

But a Fact Check review of the most widespread claims, including alleged “spy arrests” and Chinese-backed protests, found no solid evidence to support them.

Instead, experts say the narrative was a homegrown reflection of political rivalries and long-simmering anti-China sentiment.

“There used to be goodwill toward China, a sense of economic partnership,’ said Ha Nam-suk, a professor at the University of Seoul.