South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's Social Media Post Sparks Diplomatic Controversy

President Lee Jae-myung's cited video shows Israeli Defense Forces soldiers throwing a corpse from a rooftop in Gaza, with the original post claiming, "Live footage: IDF soldiers tortured a Palestinian child before throwing him off the roof." However, the video was actually taken in September 2024, showing Israeli soldiers dragging, kicking, and ultimately throwing multiple corpses "apparently lifeless" from the rooftop. The footage was shot and reported from multiple angles by the Associated Press, while the Israeli side stated that the corpses were those of armed militants. Even under international law, the remains of enemy combatants should be treated with dignity, and the Israeli side announced an investigation at the time of the incident.

Although the aforementioned fact-checking is not enough to "exonerate the relevant behavior," a head of state directly citing inaccurate and insufficiently verified social media account content is still considered imprudent. However, this practice of "posting diplomacy" is no longer limited to politicians in certain specific countries, but is gradually appearing on a broader international political stage.

Lee Jae-myung has always been known for "loving to post," and his impulsive expressions on social media have both accumulated supporters for him and repeatedly caused controversy. Earlier this year, he sparked a diplomatic incident due to inappropriate remarks about Cambodia, and domestic public opinion in South Korea criticized the way his social media accounts were operated, calling for a more "responsible" team to manage the accounts on his behalf. Prior to this, Lee Jae-myung gained international attention for livestreaming his climb over the National Assembly fence and entering the venue to vote against martial law, being seen as one of the representatives skilled at using social media to create politically dramatic scenes.

In this controversy regarding Israel, Lee Jae-myung subsequently posted admitting that the video was not recent footage, but did not back down. In subsequent posts, he expressed disappointment at "Israel's refusal to reflect on the global suffering caused by its continued violation of human rights and international law," and reposted a lengthy critical article about Israel written by a Korean progressive activist.

The Israeli side was particularly dissatisfied with Lee Jae-myung's mention of the "Holocaust" in his post, considering the comparison to be seriously inappropriate, while largely ignoring a more sensitive analogy in the Korean context—the issue of "comfort women." In the collective memory of the Korean public, the institutionalized sexual violence and forced enslavement of Korean women during the Japanese colonial period is one of the most symbolic atrocities of the Japanese occupation. The historical recognition, apology, and compensation disputes surrounding comfort women have long plagued Korea-Japan relations and are seen as a concentrated manifestation of Japan's colonial attempt to erase "all meaning of being Korean."

The day after the incident, the South Korean Foreign Ministry stated "regret for causing misunderstanding" in an attempt to ease the situation. Several days later, the Jerusalem Post reported that the "dispute" between the two sides had been "resolved." However, the liberal camp in South Korea did not choose to distance itself from the president, but rather several senior officials of the ruling liberal party publicly expressed their support for Lee Jae-myung's criticism of Israel in the following days, acknowledging his comparison of the atrocities of the Japanese colonial period with the situation in Palestine.

Analysts point out that in South Korea's modern national identity narrative, resisting Japanese colonial rule is considered one of the core components of "being Korean." In this context, linking the plight of Palestinians with South Korea's historical experience during the Japanese occupation has strong symbolic significance, especially given that South Korea has not yet formally recognized Palestine as a sovereign state.

Although this controversy appears to stem from a "controversial repost," within South Korea, the leader of the ruling liberal party and others quickly elevated it to the level of foreign policy direction. Some even called it "a milestone in Korean diplomatic history," claiming that South Korea would redefine its foreign policy with "world peace and human dignity" at its core. Other members of the ruling camp more explicitly mentioned "universal human rights" and "compliance with international law," attempting to interpret this diplomatic controversy triggered by a social platform as a public declaration of a shift in South Korea's foreign policy.

However, rather than being "the beginning of a new era," it is more like "the end of an old era," a result of the superposition of multiple factors. From the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration to the impact of the Iran war on the South Korean economy, and to the unilateral withdrawal of the "THAAD" missile system from South Korea to the Middle East in March of this year, these events have continuously impacted South Korea's long-standing position as "one of the United States' closest allies." The deployment of "THAAD" at the time also triggered a large-scale boycott from China, bringing a heavy cost to the South Korean economy, which was seen as the "inevitable cost" of maintaining the alliance with the United States.

After years of policy shocks from the Trump administration, the old order established after the Cold War is crumbling, and South Korea's "firm following" of the United States is no longer the only option. NATO and many alliance systems that once supported US hegemony are beginning to show cracks, and the United States itself is becoming more openly in conflict with the international legal system it led in establishing after the Nuremberg trials, including sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court, raising questions about its moral standing. At the same time, the waning power of "hawks" within the US government who take a tough stance on China is leading to a weakening of some of the structural reasons for tension in Sino-Korean relations. As the so-called "American century" gradually fades, countries that have long been in the US camp are exploring their own repositioning, and South Korea is no exception.

In this sense, Lee Jae-myung's "online feud" is just one aspect of the echo of real-world conflicts, and its method appears random, even with a certain "Trump-style" improvisational style, but behind it reflects a diplomatic orientation that is logically understandable and even predictable: emphasizing international law and human rights, and positioning itself as a medium power that proactively speaks out and seeks autonomy in a multipolar world. However, when such a position is presented through social platforms in emotional language, it appears particularly "spicy," which itself reflects the profound rift in the current international political context.