Did South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol receive a signed guitar worth hundreds of billions of Korean won (over $100 million) from the U.S. President? No, that's not true: Yoon did receive a Gibson guitar signed by Don McLean but the estimated values of more valuable items from McLean's collection have not exceeded $20,000.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTik by @wwwdrt on April 29, 2023. It opened with a photograph of President Yoon smiling at an acoustic guitar with the caption:
Good get: a "guitar" worth one hundred and forty billion won
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jul 5 14:31:23 2023 UTC)
The photo was from an official state visit by South Korea to the White House on April 26, 2023. During the state dinner, Yoon sang "American Pie" by Don McLean, after which Biden gave him an acoustic Gibson guitar hand-signed by Don McLean.
The value of the exact item hasn't been revealed, but guitars acquired and played by McLean throughout the years, including guitars by marquee makers the likes of Gibson, Fender and Martin, have been auctioned off for prices ranging from $3,000 to $20,000, according to Don McLean's website. The model of the guitar Yoon received is J-35, the production of which has been discontinued. Used guitars of the same model in excellent condition have been spotted selling for $1,900 on Reverb.
