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  • 2021-11-30 (xsd:date)
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  • South Korean presidential spokeswoman's mask bears flag of Costa Rica, not North Korea (en)
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  • A photo has circulated on Facebook alongside a claim that it shows a spokeswoman for South Korea's presidential office wearing a mask emblazoned with the flag of North Korea. The claim is false. In fact, the image shows her wearing a mask that featured the flag of Costa Rica to mark a state visit by the Costa Rican president. The photo was shared here on Facebook on November 25. It shows presidential spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee wearing a mask emblazoned with the South Korean flag. It also shows another flag with blue, white and red stripes. Screenshot of the false Facebook post. Captured November 26, 2021. The photo was overlaid with Korean-language text that translates as: Commies...who drew a North Korean flag on their mask. Even the Blue House spokesperson does this crap. Blue House refers to South Korea's presidential office. The photo was also shared with a similar claim on Facebook here , here , here and here . Comments on the posts suggested social media users were misled. They openly put the enemy North Korea's flag [on the mask], one wrote. Another said, They are working hard to kowtow to North Korea. But Park was not wearing a mask with the North Korean flag. Through a reverse image search on Google, AFP was able to trace the image to a YTN news clip posted to YouTube on November 23, 2021. The photo corresponds to the 30-second mark of the report. An analysis of the frame shows Park's mask bore the flag of Costa Rica, as seen in a close-up screenshot below: Screenshot close-up of the flag on Park's mask shown in the YTN news clip. Captured November 29, 2021. The flags of Costa Rica and North Korea both have blue, white and red colour stripes. But the former has wider horizontal white stripes that separate the blue and red colours -- consistent with the flag in the mask donned by Park. Below is a screenshot comparison showing the flag on Park's mask (L) and the flags of Costa Rica (C) and North Korea (R): Screenshot comparison showing the flag on Park's mask (left) and the flags of Costa Rica (center) and North Korea (right) Park can also be seen donning the mask in photographs from the same press conference captured by South Korean news agencies Newsis and Yonhap News . In response to the misleading posts, the Blue House rejected the false claim. The flag was printed on Park's mask to commemorate a state visit by Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada to South Korea from November 21 to 24 , a spokesperson told AFP. Quesada and South Korean President Moon Jae-in wore similarly printed masks at their summit meeting on November 23, as seen in photos captured by Yonhap News here and here . A video of a welcoming ceremony for Quesada at the Blue House was posted to the official YouTube channel of South Korea's presidential office. It contains various shots of the same mask: (en)
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