Police book man in his 50s for creating fabricated video of Yoon

Police said Monday they have booked a man suspected of creating a fabricated video of President Yoon Suk Yeol apologizing for corruption and incompetence ahead of the April 10 general elections. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho said during a regular meeting with the press that the man, who is in his 50s and residing in a provincial region, has admitted to making the fake video. Asked if he is affiliated with any political party, Cho said the man is "working for a political party," but declined to reveal which party it is. Earlier, a video of Yoon surfaced online ahead of April's general elections, showing the president depicting his government as "incompetent and corrupt" and accountable for committing foul acts and injustices. The video, uploaded to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, was suspected to be a deepfake creation, but it was later found to be a fabricated compilation of Yoon's statements from when he was a presidential candidate in 2022. Police said they have also specifie d nine suspects accused of distributing the fabricated video, and questioned three of them, with plans to interrogate the remaining six. Source: Yonhap News Agency