North Korean President Kim Jong-un’s spat and later meeting with US President Donald Trump made international headlines in 2018.
Then a news report surfaced claiming Kim had asked to be allowed to colonise Nigeria and Ghana “for just one year”. It has been shared on Facebook and other social media.
But there is no evidence the North Korean leader made such a request.
Kim is quoted as saying: “Give me just a year and I will transform these two countries into first class countries that will attract businesses all over the world. Nigeria should give in, Ghana should give in and let us colonise them for the second time so they will eventually learn how to run a country.”
The report has been debunked by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
It was presented as a press release signed by Kim and published on a number of news sites, including Spy Nigeria, Oriental News, Happy Naija, and Afrikan Daily, some of which are known to have shared fake news.
On Abia Pulse, the report has so far been viewed close to 300,000 times and shared 64 times on Facebook.
It says the story was sourced from “Al Jazeeera (sic) West Africa”. But Al Jazeera is misspelled, and West Africa is not one of the regions listed on the news network’s website.
ICIR’s fact-check refers to an unverified Facebook page called Al Jazeera West Africa. But Africa Check couldn’t find the page.
It may have been deleted after reports of it being notorious for sharing fake news.
PM News Nigeria has also fact-checked the report and found it to be “not true”, pointing to North Korea’s good diplomatic relations with Nigeria and Ghana.
“The report is not only suspicious, but it is also untrue and cannot be substantiated by content from credible sources,” it says.
“The existing friendly relations between North Korea, Nigeria, and Ghana also make it unlikely for the Korean leader to make inciting statements credited to him.” – Africa Check (12/01/19)
Then a news report surfaced claiming Kim had asked to be allowed to colonise Nigeria and Ghana “for just one year”. It has been shared on Facebook and other social media.
But there is no evidence the North Korean leader made such a request.
Kim is quoted as saying: “Give me just a year and I will transform these two countries into first class countries that will attract businesses all over the world. Nigeria should give in, Ghana should give in and let us colonise them for the second time so they will eventually learn how to run a country.”
Sourced from ‘Al Jazeeera West Africa’
The report has been debunked by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
It was presented as a press release signed by Kim and published on a number of news sites, including Spy Nigeria, Oriental News, Happy Naija, and Afrikan Daily, some of which are known to have shared fake news.
On Abia Pulse, the report has so far been viewed close to 300,000 times and shared 64 times on Facebook.
It says the story was sourced from “Al Jazeeera (sic) West Africa”. But Al Jazeera is misspelled, and West Africa is not one of the regions listed on the news network’s website.
ICIR’s fact-check refers to an unverified Facebook page called Al Jazeera West Africa. But Africa Check couldn’t find the page.
It may have been deleted after reports of it being notorious for sharing fake news.
North Korea’s friendly relations with Nigeria, Ghana
PM News Nigeria has also fact-checked the report and found it to be “not true”, pointing to North Korea’s good diplomatic relations with Nigeria and Ghana.
“The report is not only suspicious, but it is also untrue and cannot be substantiated by content from credible sources,” it says.
“The existing friendly relations between North Korea, Nigeria, and Ghana also make it unlikely for the Korean leader to make inciting statements credited to him.” – Africa Check (12/01/19)
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