Did Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the governing People Power Party, apply coal dust to his own face during a press photo opportunity? No, that's not true: While photoshoots showing politicians with coal dust on their faces have been a classic political image in South Korea, a video on social media shows Han touching his face after the coal mark was placed there by someone else. A more complete review of the images from the press event shows someone nearby touching Han on his cheek to leave a coal mark on his face.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published by @mr47407 on TikTok, on February 9, 2024, with a caption translated into English from Korean by Lead Stories staff that reads:
He keeps rubbing coal dust on his face.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Feb 14 02:30:16 2024 UTC)
On February 8, 2024, Han Dong-hoon participated in a drive to deliver coal (archived here) to poor households in an area of the capital, Seoul. The honeycomb coal briquette is an old-fashioned household fuel made from coal that was commonly used among Koreans in the 1960s, but which nowadays is used by disadvantaged households as a heating energy source.
South Korean politicians have been participating in this type of volunteering to make up a 'common people' image for themselves and photoshoots showing coal dust on one's face have been a classic political image.
Several photos showing Han with coal dust on his face led his political opponents - liberal supporters and politicians - to accuse him of political showmanship and to claim that footage showing Han touching his face captured him applying coal dust to his cheeks and forehead. For example, Min Hyung-bae, a member of parliament from the Democratic Party said in his Facebook post (archived here), as translated by Lead Stories staff from Korean to English:
How come coal dust was rubbed all over Mr. Han's face, while his clothes were clean? Like someone rubbed it on his cheeks and on his nose, it is so artificial. To show off his hard work? Or is it coal makeup?
After Min's Facebook roast, the claim went viral that Han himself intentionally put the coal dust on his face, but a review of footage by multiple local press accounts (archived here and here) showed that the video of Han touching his face was not a deliberate effort on his part to put coal dust on his face. Instead, it appears the powder was put on him earlier by a member of his staff.
During the event, the staff member can be heard suggesting that Han add coal dust to his face. According to MBC's report (archived here), a staff member can be heard telling Han, in comments translated from Korean by Lead Stories staff:
Your face is too clean, Mr. Han. You should put a little bit (of coal dust) to show off with this
Han is heard replying:
No need to rub it on, on purpose.
Han also devalued the claim as pedantic after the event. At his party's emergency interim committee meeting held on February 13, 2024, (archived here) Han said, as translated by Lead Stories staff:
I will leave a comment about my coal delivery, since it was mentioned. Please stop nitpicking like this and compete with us for renovating the politics and taking after people's living issues.
