The collage has also been shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here, here and here.
The posts circulated the day before Japan’s outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met current South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol for a final round of talks, hoping to cement improving ties before he leaves office (archived link).
The two nations have long been at odds over historical issues linked to Japan’s brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, including sexual slavery and forced labour.
Comments left by multiple users indicated they believed the posts.
“What hypocrites, the audacity of accusing others of being pro-Japanese when they’re the real slaves,” wrote one.
“Typical leftists, different inside and out,” another said.
Doctored image
A Google reverse image search found the original photo of Moon and his grandson has previously circulated in South Korean forums in 2017 here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
The card held by the pair actually read: “A strong president, Moon Jae-in. Grandpa is the best.”
Below is a screenshot comparison between the doctored image in the collage (left) and the image shared in 2017 (right):
The 2017 posts credited the photo to Democratic Party lawmaker Ki Dong-min, who campaigned with Moon during that year’s presidential election (archived link).
A corresponding photo showing Moon holding the unedited sign was posted on Ki’s Facebook account, where he goes by the name Dongmin Gi, on April 27, 2017 (archived link).
“The slogan reads, ‘a strong president, grandpa is the best!.’ A smile isn’t leaving grandpa candidate Moon Jae-in’s lips,” Ki wrote in the caption of the post.
Below is the picture shared in the forums in 2017 (left) and the photo posted by Ki on Facebook in April 2017 (right):
Ki’s photo was also cited by multiple South Korean news outlets at the time, including the JoongAng Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo (archived links here and here).
Japanese animation
A further reverse image search found the photo of Moon Joon-yong featured in the collage had been earlier published by the Money Today newspaper on May 18, 2017 (archived link).
The article said the picture showed the younger Moon in an interview shortly after his father was elected president. The article did not include any remarks about Japan.
Below is a screenshot comparison between Moon Joon-yong’s image in the collage (left) and the one published by Money Today (right):
A keyword search of the supposed quote led to a report published by far-right online newspaper MediaWatch that attacked former president Moon for his family’s supposed links to Japan (archived link).
The MediaWatch report said Moon Joon-yong made the comments in an interview with the newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun in December 2018 (archived link).
The Kyunghyang Shinmun featured him speaking about the influence of Japanese animation on his career but nowhere in it was he quoted directly saying: “I am here today thanks to Japanese animation.”
AFP has previously debunked similar posts that criticised Moon for alleged pro-Japanese leanings.
