The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail apologized on Wednesday for publishing a fake photo which purported to show two “North Korean women” fighting for Russia against Ukraine.
“In an article published on 4 December, since deleted from MailOnline, we stated that Kim Jong Un had ‘sent Korean women to fight as cannon fodder for Putin in Ukraine,’” wrote the Daily Mail in a correction notice. “This had been based on imagery provided to us by a trusted freelance reporter.”
The newspaper continued, “Following publication it came to light that the image was likely a doctored version of a photograph which had originally been published in 2023, and which had not featured North Korean women. We apologise for any confusion caused.”
The article – which was published under the headline, “Kim Jong Un sends North Korean women to fight as cannon fodder for Putin in Ukraine” – included a photo which supposedly showed two “female soldiers from North Korea” on the frontlines against Ukraine.
The Daily Mail
Writer Will Stewart and foreign news reporter Miriam Kuepper noted in their article that the photo had been “widely shared online.” However, unbeknownst to readers, the image was in fact an old photo of two Russian soldiers who had been edited to look Asian.
The Daily Mail received backlash and ridicule on social media before it removed the article and issued a correction notice on Wednesday.
The blunder was also mocked in the Russian media, which claimed that the pre-photoshopped image actually showed “two 25-year-old female soldiers, who were born in Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic.”