{"id":33811,"date":"2024-07-22T00:10:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T04:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/s-korea-govt-not-involved-in-israel-war-crimes-case-filed-by-ngos-foreign-ministry\/22\/07\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T00:10:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T04:10:17","slug":"s-korea-govt-not-involved-in-israel-war-crimes-case-filed-by-ngos-foreign-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/s-korea-govt-not-involved-in-israel-war-crimes-case-filed-by-ngos-foreign-ministry\/22\/07\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"S. Korea govt not involved in Israel war crimes case filed by NGOs: foreign ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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South Korea’s foreign ministry<\/span> told AFP the government was not involved in a criminal complaint lodged by local NGOs against Israeli officials, contrary to a news graphic shared by social media users around the world. The graphic, which used a picture of President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a><\/span><\/span> and falsely claimed Seoul had filed a lawsuit against Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity, was shared against the background of the ongoing war in Gaza and persistent international criticism of the high civilian toll.<\/h3>\n

“South Korea files lawsuit against Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity,” read text on a news graphic shared on Facebook<\/a> on June 24, 2024.<\/p>\n

The graphic featured an image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol with the country’s flag behind him.<\/p>\n

Printed at the bottom of the graphic were the website and social media handles of US news site\u00a0MintPress News<\/span>, which has previously shared misleading content debunked by AFP here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on July 18, 2024<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The graphic was originally posted by MintPress News on its verified Facebook<\/a> page on June 24, and then on the next day on its\u00a0Instagram<\/a> and\u00a0X<\/a> accounts.<\/p>\n

Captions to the graphics read, “South Korea took the unprecedented move to file lawsuits against 7 Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity”, and claimed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a><\/span><\/span> was among the officials targeted in the “shock move”.<\/p>\n

The same graphic was also uploaded on\u00a0Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a>, where it was reposted more than 9,000 times.<\/p>\n

Similar claims were also posted on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a>, Threads<\/a>, and in a report by Lebanese broadcaster MTV<\/a>, as well as in a headline by Israel-based news outlet\u00a0Ynet News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The claims circulated<\/span> amid the ongoing war in Gaza, which was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel — an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.<\/p>\n

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.<\/p>\n

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,980 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.<\/p>\n

On May 20, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague applied for\u00a0arrest warrants<\/a> against Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and top Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n

ICC judges will decide whether the application meets the threshold for the warrants to be formally issued, and the ICC’s 124 member states will ultimately decide whether to enforce them.<\/p>\n

South Korea, however, has not filed a lawsuit against Israeli leaders.<\/p>\n

‘Government not involved’<\/h3>\n

Keyword searches<\/span> on Google led to a report in South Korea’s\u00a0Kyunghyang Shinmun<\/a> newspaper published on May 9 that said two NGOs had filed a criminal complaint with the police against seven Israeli officials (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The seven officials are the same as those listed in the MintPress News report.<\/p>\n

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun report<\/span>, the complainants — People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and Asian Dignity Initiative — gathered more than 5,000 signatures in support of their action.<\/p>\n

The filing was also covered by the Yonhap News Agency<\/a> (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The PSPD posted about the complaint on its\u00a0website<\/a>, saying their complaint was filed under South Korea’s Act on Punishment of Crimes under Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Lee Young-ah of the PSPD’s Center for Peace and Disarmament told AFP on July 18 that their complaint “aims to broadly expose those responsible for the war crimes” in Gaza, even though South Korean police may not have the jurisdiction<\/a> to investigate\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A representative from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the claims to AFP as being the result of “misreporting<\/span>“.<\/p>\n

They said “the South Korean government was not involved” in filing the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Korea’s foreign ministry told AFP the government was not involved in a criminal complaint lodged by local NGOs against Israeli officials,