The Foreign Ministry on Friday sharply criticized South Korean President Lee Jae-myung after he shared on social media a 2024 video showing Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Qabatiya pushing a body from a rooftop.
Lee’s post, published April 9 and viewed about 6.1 million times as of this writing, presented the footage as a new incident and alleged that Israeli soldiers had tortured a Palestinian child and thrown him from a roof before calling themselves “the most moral army.”
Lee said the authenticity of the incident should be verified and, if it occurred, authorities should determine what steps were taken afterward. He also drew a comparison to the issue of so-called “comfort women,” a reference to women forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s imperial military during World War II, and to the Holocaust, saying there was no essential difference between those episodes and killings in wartime.
The Foreign Ministry responded angrily, accusing Lee of trivializing the memory of the Holocaust, particularly on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. The ministry said Lee had relied on a fake account that spreads anti-Israel disinformation and said the footage showed an old incident that had already been investigated and addressed. It added that the episode took place during an operational mission against terrorists and that IDF soldiers had been under an immediate threat to their lives.
“Yet we have not heard a single word from the President about the terrorists who were at the center of this event,” the ministry said in response. It also said Lee had not spoken about attacks by Iran and Hezbollah against Israeli civilians. The ministry ended with a pointed message: “Mr. President, it’s always better to check before posting.”
Lee did not delete the post after the criticism. But South Korea later issued a clarification, which the presidential office shared, saying Lee’s comments were not directed at a specific case but reflected a principled position on universal human rights. South Korea also said it opposes all forms of violence and inhumane acts, including terrorism, and stressed the importance of upholding international humanitarian law without exception.
In response to the Israeli criticism, South Korean authorities also expressed deep regret over the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and emphasized their sympathy with its victims.
The video Lee shared appears to have been from September 2024, when footage emerged of IDF soldiers in Qabatiya pushing apparently lifeless bodies from rooftops during a raid. At the time, the military said the incident did not align with its values and would be reviewed.