South Korean President Lee Jae Myung did not award a national honour to former spy chief Kim Jae-gyu, who was executed for the 1979 assassination of then-president Park Chung-hee, contrary to claims circulating on social media. Posts shared an image of a certificate that supposedly shows Lee signed off the award, but officials say the honour was bestowed on a different individual with the same name who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War.
“Isn’t this dissing president Park Chung-hee?” says a Korean-language Threads post shared on August 24, 2026.
Park had ruled South Korea with an iron fist for more than 15 years when he was shot and killed by his head of intelligence and trusted aide Kim Jae-gyu at a dinner in 1979.
An image attached to the post shows what appears to be a certificate honouring “a person of distinguished service to the state”, which is awarded to those who made significant contributions to the country ( archived link).
The beneficiary of the Korean-language certificate — stamped and signed by Lee and dated July 24, 2026 — is “the late Kim Jae-gyu”.
Text superimposed over the certificate reads: “Wow, (they) designated Kim Jae-gyu a person of distinguished service to the state? Everybody, did you know about this?”
Screenshot of the false post captured on August 25, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
Park and Kim are highly divisive figures in South Korea.
Park took power in a 1961 military coup and established a regime that transformed South Korea into a manufacturing powerhouse, but ruthlessly crushed opposition ( archived link). Conservatives revere him as the architect of South Korea’s economic rise, while critics denounce his authoritarian rule.
Kim, meanwhile, is viewed by many conservatives as a traitor but regarded by some of Park’s critics as the person who ended Park’s dictatorship.
In 2020, Kim’s family appealed to the Seoul High Court to revisit Kim’s case ( archived link). They argued that Kim killed the president to put a stop to his ruthless dictatorship rather than in pursuit of power, and his actions did not amount to treason.
They also said Kim was tortured during questioning and that he did not receive a fair trial.
The court reopened the case in February 2025 and the retrial is currently underway ( archived link).
The image of the certificate was also shared in similar Threads, Instagram, Facebook and X posts, with commenters voicing outrage over the purported honour for Kim.
“Doesn’t it amount to practically encouraging assassination of a president?” asked one, while others accused Lee of being a communist or North Korean sympathiser.
The certificate circulating on social media, however, was not awarded to the former president’s assassin.
‘Completely different person’
The circulating certificate lists the recipient’s birthdate as “February 15, 1930” but former spy chief Kim was born four years earlier in 1926.
His actual birthdate is posted on the website of the association of former lawmakers as before becoming the head of the country’s intelligence agency, Kim was a lawmaker ( archived link). It is also included in an indictment statement published by a local newspaper in December 1979, when prosecutors formally charged Kim with murder and treason ( archived link).
Kang Yun-jin, vice minister of patriots and veterans affairs, said on Instagram on August 25 that the certificate belonged to another Kim Jae-gyu — a soldier who died fighting for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War (archived here and here).
“He is a different person with the same name as the former head of the intelligence agency Kim Jae-gyu,” she wrote. “I’d like to confirm that this is a completely different person.”
A spokeswoman of the ministry confirmed the clarification was posted on the vice minister’s account.
Screenshot of the vice minister of patriots and veterans affairs’ Instagram post
The certificate shared in the false posts also differs from the one shared by the vice minister.
It has a different document ID number in the top-left corner while the shape of the emblem at the top is dissimilar and is missing the two flanking phoenixes.
Screenshot comparison of the certificate shared on the false post(L) and the original certificate shared on the vice minister’s Instagram account, with visual differences marked in red by AFP
Lee Sang-hee, a Seoul lawyer who is defending Kim in his retrial, also rejected the “absurd” claim that Kim had been awarded the national honour.
She also noted in a phone call with AFP on August 26, that the law bars those convicted of treason from being listed as persons of distinguished service to the state ( archived link).
AFP has previously debunked false claims involving former president Park.