Image of N. Korean military aiming artillery at coffee shop is AI-generated

As military tensions flared at the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea in late September 2026, an AI-generated image appearing to show North Korean soldiers pointing artillery at patrons of a border-adjacent Starbucks store circulated on social media. The image is inconsistent with photos of the coffee shop, less than two kilometres from the border, and was flagged as containing an invisible watermark indicating it is either made or altered with AI.