Doctored Image Claims Trump Reacted Angrily to Yoon Suk Yeol’s Detention
The Claim
On September 1, 2025, a viral post spread across Naver Band, Facebook, and X, claiming to show a newly released White House photo of US President Donald Trump reacting furiously to the detention of former South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol. The altered image purportedly captured Trump gesturing angrily toward a TV news segment reporting on Yoon’s custody, with captions insisting that Trump was “belatedly enraged” after learning of the situation.
Supporters of this narrative argued that Trump’s hand gesture proved his displeasure, while others suggested the photo reflected hidden tensions between Washington and Seoul over Yoon’s downfall.
CyberPoe’s Verification
CyberPoe’s forensic review confirms the viral image is a fabricated composite. The photo is not a new release, nor does it show Trump reacting to Yoon’s arrest. Instead, it is a manipulated version of an official White House photograph, published on the administration’s Flickr account on August 27, 2025.
In the original image, Trump is seen alongside South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, watching a Fox News broadcast of their own summit from August 25. The viral version cropped Lee out of the frame and replaced the TV content with a YouTube thumbnail of Yoon’s arrest from January 2025. This doctored version was then recirculated with sensational captions designed to mislead.
What the Original Photo Shows
The original photoset from the White House depicts Trump and Lee meeting in Washington to discuss a range of issues, including the US–ROK alliance, trade, North Korea, and Seoul’s domestic instability. One of the images captured them watching news coverage of their meeting. That broadcast, visible in the official photo, displayed Fox News graphics about the summit nothing related to Yoon’s detention.
Multiple South Korean media outlets, including News1, JoongAng Ilbo, and Kyunghyang Shinmun, published the same White House image in its unaltered form. This further confirms that the viral version was deliberately manipulated.
The Inserted Image: A January 2025 Thumbnail
A reverse image search traced the inserted TV image to a LiveNow from Fox YouTube video uploaded in January 2025. That video reported on Yoon’s initial arrest shortly after his suspension by the National Assembly for attempting to impose martial law in December 2024. The thumbnail, which matches the viral edit exactly, was superimposed onto the White House photo to make it appear as though Trump was reacting to Yoon’s detention in real time.
The manipulation also erased President Lee Jae Myung from the frame, removing contextual evidence that this was an image from a diplomatic summit, not a response to breaking news.
The Broader Context
The false narrative gained traction partly because Yoon’s detention is very real and politically explosive in South Korea. On September 1, 2025, lawmakers reviewed surveillance footage of Yoon resisting a special counsel’s detention order, reinforcing ongoing domestic coverage of his legal troubles. Yoon remains in custody facing multiple charges, including insurrection linked to his failed martial law attempt.
By exploiting these real developments, propagators gave the manipulated Trump photo a veneer of plausibility, making it more likely to be shared uncritically.
Why It Matters
This case illustrates a common disinformation technique: hijacking authentic political imagery and reframing it with fabricated elements to manufacture a reaction that never occurred. By combining a genuine White House photo with an old YouTube thumbnail, bad actors created a visual “gotcha moment” suggesting US executive involvement in South Korea’s political crisis.
Such fabrications distort both diplomatic optics and public perception, fueling mistrust while inflaming partisan narratives. Images like these are particularly dangerous because they blend truth (a real summit photo, a real arrest) with falsehood, making the disinformation harder to spot.
The Bottom Line
The viral claim that Trump reacted angrily to Yoon Suk Yeol’s detention is false. The circulated image is a doctored composite, created by splicing an official White House photo with an unrelated YouTube thumbnail from January 2025. The original picture shows Trump and President Lee Jae Myung watching coverage of their summit, not Yoon’s legal troubles.
This episode is a reminder: whenever a single photo is presented as proof of a leader’s private reaction, it is vital to verify the source image, check for official publication, and scrutinize whether on-screen content has been digitally replaced.
🔍 CyberPoe Conclusion: This is a manufactured narrative built on a manipulated image. Trump did not react on camera to Yoon’s detention. Always verify before you share.
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