The claim: Video shows meeting between Vladimir Putin and South Korean president
In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Koren leader Kim Jong Un for a historic summit.
However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some social media users began circulating a video of the summit online and claimed it shows a meeting between Putin and the president of South Korea.
“Russian president Vladimir Putin meets with South Korean President,” the video was captioned in a March 6 Facebook post. The video was viewed 2 million times in three days.
The video shows Putin waiting on a porch and a man exiting a limousine and approaching Putin. The two shake hands.
The man who exits the limousine is clearly Kim Jong Un.
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USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment.
Video from 2019 shows meeting with North Korean leader, not South Korean president
A BBC News version of the video is dated April 25, 2019, and captioned “Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un meet in Vladivostok.”
The video does not show sitting South Korean President Moon Jae-in or President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.
Fact check: Video shows Austrian climate protest, not ‘crisis actors’ in Ukraine
South Korea recently announced sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows a meeting between Putin and the South Korean president. The video actually shows a 2019 meeting between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Our fact-check sources:
- FactCheck.org, March 9, Old, Mislabeled Video Circulating Amid Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
- Monte Carlo Doualiya via YouTube, April 25, 2019, The moment President Putin receives his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong in Vladivostok (Google translation)
- USA TODAY, March 10, Kremlin defends bombing hospital; GOP senators question Biden handling of Polish fighter jets: Live Ukraine updates
- BBC News, April 25, 2019, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un meet in Vladivostok
- The Guardian, March 9, Conservative candidate squeaks to victory in South Korean election
- Reuters, April 15, 2021, S.Korea’s Moon replaces PM, cabinet ministers after election defeat
- Aljazeera, March 7, New Zealand, South Korea announce new sanctions on Russia
- Associated Press, Sept. 30, 2021, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un slams United States for ‘petty trick’ and ‘hostile acts‘
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