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A photo of Japan's naval flag hoisted on a submarine has circulated on social media along with a claim in Korean that it shows the controversial ensign on display during South Korea's joint military exercise with the United States and Japan in September 2022. However, the picture was shared in a false context. While the flag was hoisted during the recent drills, the image circulated in the posts was taken from footage captured in 2016 showing a Japanese submarine entering Sydney Harbour. The image was shared here on Facebook on October 2, 2022 and shows the Japanese rising sun flag -- circled in yellow -- hoisted on a submarine. The Korean-language caption above the image reads, South Korean navy training alongside the Japanese rising sun flag in Dokdo. Dokdo is South Korea's name for islets in the East Sea under its control. But they are also claimed by Japan, which calls them Takeshima. The claim circulated online after the South Korean navy conducted trilateral anti-submarine exercises in the Sea of Japan with its Japanese and US counterparts on September 30, amid a growing nuclear threat from North Korea. The flag was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and is still used by Japan's maritime self-defence force as its ensign. But it holds a controversial legacy in South Korea, where it is associated with the country's 35-year subjugation under Japanese rule, as well as Japan's wartime crimes. Japan's government defends the flag by claiming it is widely accepted in the international community. The same image was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here , here , here and here . An official at Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF) told AFP that a Japanese Aegis destroyer that participated in the Japan-US-South Korea trilateral exercise was holding up the flag, adding that the flag is something that's constantly held up by a MSDF ship, whether it's anchored or on the ocean. A tweet posted by the US Navy's 7th Fleet on October 6 also showed the controversial ensign hoisted on one of the Japanese warships that took part in the exercise. However, the image shared in the posts was taken in April 2016 when a Japanese submarine hoisting the flag arrived in Sydney harbour. Old footage A reverse image search on Google showed the picture was taken from a YouTube video posted titled Japanese submarine Hakuryu at FBE. The video's description identified the vessel as a Soryu-class submarine approaching Sydney in April 2016. Below is a screenshot comparison of the image circulated alongside the misleading claim on Facebook (left) and the YouTube video posted in April 2016 (right): Screencaps from the same video were published in this ABC report from April 15, 2016, which reported Japanese submarine the Hakuryu arriving in Sydney Harbour. The event marked the first time a Japanese submarine entered the harbour since World War II, the report said. Images from the same video were also published in 2016 in a Daily Mail report that also credited it to ABC. North Korean 'provocation' The drills between the United States, Japan and South Korea came after repeated missile launches from North Korea in recent months. US officials said the drills were necessary to maintain the capability to respond to provocations from North Korea. According to the US Indo-Pacific Command , two Japanese destroyers and a South Korean destroyer took part in the latest drills, but only Japanese surface ships -- not submarines -- were included in the exercise. The South Korean defence ministry released very few pictures of the drill. This led to local reports, including here and here , to question that Seoul was attempting to downplay the controversy over the Japanese warships' hoisting of the flag during the exercise.
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