At the beginning of December 2024, footage of military equipment allegedly driving through the center of the South Korean capital after the introduction of martial law in the country spread on the Internet. We have checked the correctness of such publications.

December 3, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol entered There is martial law in the country. Many media outlets and Telegram channels illustrated their notes about this news with a photograph showing a convoy of military equipment driving through the city streets. Captions for the photo say it was taken in central Seoul shortly after martial law was imposed in South Korea.

With such a caption, the photograph appeared in the Russian media (Life.ru, "RIA Novosti", 161.ru), and in foreign (Bild, Malta Today, Khabar Online, Israel Hayom). The image was also published by Telegram channels Mash (931,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), “Ax Live"(794,000), "Caution news"(364,000), Shot (319,000), etc.

December 3 Yoon Seok Yeol emergency appealed to the people and declared martial law in the country - this happened for the first time since 1979. This measure, according to the head of state, was directed to protect the constitutional order from communist forces and internal anti-state elements. The introduction of martial law occurred against the background conflict between the president and the opposition, which has a majority in parliament - Yun accused political opponents of paralyzing the work of the state. Soon after the president’s address, protests began near the parliament building, and the decree itself lasted only six hours - deputies of the National Assembly, despite the ban, gathered for an emergency meeting and voted to lift martial law. December 5th became knownthat South Korean police have launched an investigation against Yoon on suspicion of treason.

Although news reports about the events presented the image as current, results from a reverse Google search of the image show otherwise. It was first posted in an article on the website seoul.co.kr January 27, 2024, that is, almost 11 months before martial law was declared in the country. In the note, the photo was accompanied by the caption: “The 1st Guards Brigade of the Capital Defense Command conducted a mobile training exercise using a K808 (Baekho) armored vehicle in downtown Seoul on the morning of January 25, 2024.” The exercise began at dawn to minimize disruption to citizens and was widely reported in South Korean media. Maeil Business Newspaper indicatedthat the photo was taken near Seoul Station.

In addition to the photographs taken then, open sources also contain videos of armored vehicles moving around Seoul. January 27, 2024 South Korean Chanel A published on his YouTube channel there is a detailed report from the exercises, where armored vehicles were filmed from different angles. At the 25th second of the video, the column is captured from the same angle as in the viral photo.

Above is a viral photo, below is a screenshot from video Chanel A. Source: collage “Verified”

If you crop the screenshot from the Chanel A report, and also increase the brightness and sharpness of the image, the images will turn out almost identical.

Source: screenshot of Chanel A report, processed by “Verified”

Despite the fact that this photo does not reflect the real events of the night from December 3 to 4, then an army really appeared on the streets of Seoul: they were circling over the city helicopters, and military personnel penetrated into the Parliament building through broken windows. And numerous other photos of military equipment distributed by major media and photo agencies are reliable.

Source: website screenshot Associated Press

Thus, the photo of armored vehicles on the streets of Seoul is in no way connected with the declaration of martial law in South Korea on the night of December 4th. This is a lightly edited screenshot from a video about military exercises in that country in January.

Cover photo: social networks