Starbucks artillery photo was AI-made

TLDR

• SBS says the viral Gimpo Starbucks howitzer photo is an AI composite of real news photos.¹
• SBS says RT's original post had over 2 million views, though RT later flagged the scene as AI-edited.¹
• SBS says Korea's AI law obliges providers, not private posters, to label content, and the fake remains online.¹

A photo that circulated from 26 October, showing North Korean self-propelled howitzers and soldiers apparently just outside the window of the Starbucks at Gimpo's Aegibong Peace Ecopark, is an AI composite of real news photographs, according to SBS News.¹ The artillery deployment was real, but the proximity was not.¹²

Why it matters: the case combines three checks investigators reuse. A perspective and distance check showed the scene could not have been photographed from the cafe, a comparison with real news photos pointed to the source of the artillery, and a watermark detector reportedly found an AI signature.¹² SBS also stresses the limits: detectors miss unsupported models or heavily edited images, and a fake can be shared widely before anyone proves it.¹

Driving the news:

• SBS says a post of 26 October described the cafe as a prime viewing spot for North Korean howitzers, and the image soon reached overseas forums.¹
• SBS says a post the next day argued that the perspective was impossible, and that an Aegibong Peace Ecopark official also said so. SBS puts the coastal area where the guns are deployed at more than 1.5 kilometres from the store, while the photo made them look about 100 metres away.¹
• SBS says analysis with a SynthID detector found a watermark, "confirming that it was generated through OpenAI". SBS does not explain how a SynthID result identifies the generating company, so that attribution is SBS's wording.¹
• SBS says the soldiers and guns closely resemble footage and photos taken by several journalists on the day, and that the deployment was spotted from the Aegibong Observatory.¹
• dpa Faktencheck says a Facebook post showed the image and a short video. It found no other Starbucks closer to the inter-Korean border, and says images from CNN and Reuters show the cafe high above the broad lower Han river, with details in North Korea visible from there only through binoculars, so the narrow stream in the post cannot be that view.²
• dpa says the video shows two soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder while a third passes between, or through, them, and that the clip appears to animate a photo from a Yonhap article.²
• The Korea Herald, relaying NK News, says clips also show North Korean soldiers looking south through binoculars, and that the originals were photos from South Korean outlets including Yonhap.³
• SBS says RT's account posted the image with the caption "Koreans sip Starbucks coffee while filming the North Korean military. Giant cannons are aimed directly at them." About three hours later, RT said the scene appeared to be an AI-edited version of real news photographs, but SBS says the original post had already passed 2 million views.¹

The big picture: SBS says the Framework Act on Artificial Intelligence requires AI business operators to label generated content, but the provision does not extend to ordinary individuals who re-post it. It adds that guidelines from the Korea Internet Self-Governance Organization allow deletion, blocking or warnings for false information only after harm or intent is assessed, and apply only to member platforms, not to X. More than a week after the confirmation, SBS says, the image remained on social media.¹ A Korea University researcher quoted by SBS suggests platforms detect patterns and visibly mark such images.¹ The Korea Herald adds that the fakes emerged amid border tensions after two North Korean land mines exploded in the Demilitarized Zone, an incident dpa dates to September, and quotes an Asan Institute fellow warning that such deepfakes could affect perceptions of the security situation.³

The other side: none of the sources reviewed carries a response from the original poster or from Starbucks.

Single-source note: the RT view count, the 100 metre figure and the 1.5 kilometre distance come from SBS alone, AFP independently reports the SynthID result and gives a different distance (see the update below), and none of the images or the detector output was reviewed here. The sources also differ on the real photos: the Korea Herald, citing NK News, dates the originals to 21 October, while SBS says the guns were spotted from the observatory on 25 October.¹³ The Korea Herald and dpa pieces were published on 28 and 31 October, before this window, and are used for background; the SBS explainer is the new information.²³

Update, 6 November 2026: AFP Fact Check, working independently of SBS, also rated the image AI-generated, which gives the SynthID result a second source.⁴ AFP says its own SynthID Detector analysis found a watermark and described the image as "made or edited with OpenAI", and that a higher-resolution copy posted on X a day before the Threads post carried a "Made with AI" label.⁴ It says a reverse image search traced the soldiers and self-propelled howitzer to a Yonhap News Agency photo published on 25 October, captioned as showing North Korean troops drilling in Hwanghae Province as seen from the Aegibong Observatory.⁴ AFP puts the store about 1.8 kilometres from North Korea across the wide Han River, and says its own photos of the store and surroundings show the view in the viral image could not have been taken from there.⁴ That distance differs from the more than 1.5 kilometres SBS gives for the area where the guns are deployed.¹⁴ AFP dates the Threads post to 27 October.⁴