South KoreaMedia and entertainment2025Yonhap News Agency
Online AI-image verification in reporting
Yonhap retracted a story after an image-verification tool wrongly supported an AI-composite allegation
Problem
Yonhap used an online image-verification tool while investigating a tip about a photograph in a district mayor's promotional material. The tool was used to assess whether the photograph had been generated with AI.
Approach
On December 31, 2025, Yonhap published a story alleging that the photograph involving President Lee Jae-myung and Gwangsan district mayor Park Byung-gyu was an AI composite. Yonhap subsequently acknowledged that an original photograph existed and that the image had only been retouched. It canceled and deleted the entire story that day and apologized to readers, customers, the mayor and district residents. The documented reversal concerned this story; the statement did not announce an end to all image-detection tool use.
Results
No published figures
Takeaway
The verification result supported a published allegation that the original photograph contradicted. Yonhap's correction showed that the tool result had not established the image's provenance.
Categories
- Industry
- Media and entertainment
- Business function
- Internal work and knowledge management
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Computer vision
- Adoption
- Off-the-shelf tool or platform
- Goal
- Quality and risk
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Yonhap acknowledged relying on an online verification tool to judge the photograph AI-generated. It confirmed the existence of the original photograph, canceled the story and apologized.
Media Today reported the retraction and reproduced Yonhap's explanation. It also reported the mayor's response and the spread of the allegation through other outlets.
Full details are in the original sources.
