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A doctored image is circulating in social media posts that falsely claim it shows the father of a victim of a Halloween crowd crush in the South Korean capital Seoul laughing after being offered compensation. The picture circulated in posts that accused the victims' families of seeking to benefit financially from the tragedy. In fact, the original photo shows the man crying at a meeting with ruling party lawmakers. The claim was shared here on Facebook on January 8. The image shows Lee Jong-chul , the leader of a group of family members of victims of a crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district on October 29, 2022. More than 150 were killed in the tragedy, most of them young people. Lee appears to be laughing in the image, which includes a Korean-language caption that reads: First he flipped out demanding money because his child died, and now he laughs out loud after being offered money. He is like the devil. Text below the image reads: For this demon-like man, money is more important than his child. Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook, captured January 9, 2022. Bereaved family members of the Itaewon victims have demanded accountability from the government over the botched response to the disaster. But their activities have come under fire from some online users and far-right groups who claim the families are seeking a larger payout or seeking to subvert President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration. Identical images were shared on Facebook here and here , as well as here on South Korean platform Naver Band. However, the image has been doctored. Crying father A reverse image search on Google found the original image published by NoCut News, a South Korean online daily, on December 20, 2022. The image shows Lee crying while speaking into a microphone, alongside a caption that reads: Lee Jong-chul, head of a group of bereaved families of the October 29 Itaewon disaster speaks while shedding tears during a meeting between the People Power Party and victims' families held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 20th (press pool). The original photo has the same NoCut News logo in its bottom-right corner as the doctored image shared on Facebook. Below is a screenshot comparison of the doctored image shared on Facebook (left) and the original photo of Lee captured by NoCut News (right): Screenshot comparison of the doctored image shared on Facebook (left) and the original photo of Lee captured by NoCut News (right): The same photo was also published in reports from the same day in South Korean dailies Seoul Shinmun and Busan Ilbo . According to the reports, the meeting was the first time ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers met with Itaewon victims' families, who berated them for refusing to join an opposition-led parliamentary inquiry into the crowd crush disaster. Footage of the meeting was also published on YouTube by broadcasters MBC and KBS . MBC's five-hour video shows the entirety of the meeting, in which Lee can be seen speaking multiple times from different angles. At no point in the meeting is Lee seen laughing or donning sunglasses, including when PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young promises to ensure compensation is provided to the families. In fact, he berates the lawmakers and accuses them of politicising the disaster, as seen at the one-hour, 39-minute mark, after which he cries while speaking as other family members weep around him. Other photos of Lee crying during the meeting were also published in local media reports here and here . Face editing application The doctored photo of Lee laughing appears to have been created using AI software, described by tech news site The Verge as apps that use neural networks to add smiles to any photo of a face. AFP ran the image through FaceApp , a popular application used to edit selfies. The result shows a similar image to the one circulating on social media. Below is a screenshot comparison of the original image published by NoCut News (left), the doctored image reproduced by AFP using FaceApp (centre) and the doctored image shared on Facebook (right): The app also has additional paid options to add accessories such as sunglasses.
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