Did Trump and Moon Jae-In Hold Light Sticks Used by K-Pop Fans?

Both the leaders were not holding light sticks that are used by fans of Korean pop.

Viral images falsely claimed that Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in were holding light sticks.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

Images of US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have gone viral on social media with the claim that they were seen holding light sticks which are used by fans of Korean pop (or K-pop). The claims the images are shared with read:

•Korea's President holding EXO light stick Version 2
•US President holding EXO light stick Version 3

EXO is a Korean boyband.

The images of the two leaders wielding light sticks have gone viral. (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Several social media users have shared the images on Facebook with the same claims.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claims the images are shared with are false. The images have been Photoshopped and do not show the two leaders wielding light sticks.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We reverse searched Moon Jae-in’s image on Yandex which led us to a video published by the Australian newspaper The Age. It’s titled as ‘Moon Jae-in declares victory.’

Yandex reverse search led us to The Age’s video.(Photo Courtesy: Yandex screenshot)

Consequently, we searched the key words ‘moon jae-in declares victory’ on Google, which led us to an article published by Al Jazeera in 2017.

A Google search led us to an article by Al Jazeera.(Photo Courtesy: Al Jazeera screenshot)

The image has been attributed to Chung Sung-jun, Getty Images, and is captioned: ‘Moon celebrates after exit polls show him as the winner of South Korea's presidential vote.’ It can be clearly seen that the South Korean President is not holding light sticks.

Further, we reverse searched Trump’s image on Google, which led us to a YouTube video published by NBC News.

Google reverse search led us to a video published by NBC News.(Photo Courtesy: Google screenshot)

The video is from his 2017 inauguration ceremony. In the video, at 12 seconds, a frame showing Trump making the thumbs up sign can be seen. The viral image is a morphed version of the same.

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