Has South Korea really hired an official to monitor Donald Trump's tweets?
Media reports are swirling about South Korea's alleged plans to appoint a government official just to monitor Donald Trump's tweets.
But if it sounds too crazy to be true, it might just be.
Apparently, the U.S. president-elect's tweets are currently the "most effective insight into policies of the incoming administration," according to Korean news outlet Joong Ang Daily.
The official is meant to pay particular attention to tweets relating to Korea and northeast Asia.
Trump is known for his largely critical tweets about North Korea and China, though he rarely makes mention of South Korea.
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Does the job really exist?
But while outlets continue to report the news, nearly every one solely cites the Joong Ang Daily.
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to put out an official statement confirming the appointment.
Yonhap, the country’s largest news organisation, covered the news.
When Mashable called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in South Korea, the government workers on the other end appeared confused about the news. We've sent an email to them to follow up, and will update the piece if they respond.
Sarah Kim, the Joong Ang Daily reporter who wrote the original piece, told Mashable the outlet relied on "first-hand sources."
"I believe JoongAng reported on this first and we are based in Seoul with first-hand sources," Kim said in an email.
People online have been quick to point out the irony of the post, should it be real.
Looks like that's one more job sent overseas.
Topics X/Twitter Donald Trump
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
