"If you don't like candidate Jeon Jae-soo, why did you say you would follow his lead?"
As soon as the televised debate among the three candidates for the National Assembly by-election in Busan's Buk District A wrapped up on the 28th, edited clips from the debate were uploaded one after another to the YouTube channel of Democratic Party candidate Ha Jung-woo. The footage showed Ha rebutting and rebuking aggressive questions from independent candidate Han Dong-hoon. The clips ended with footage of Han appearing to speak positively about Jeon Jae-soo, the area's former lawmaker and current Busan mayoral candidate, during past campaign activities. People Power Party candidate Park Min-sik also quickly uploaded edited debate excerpts as shorts.
With official televised debates for the June 3 local and by-elections all concluded and the country entering the "blackout period" during which polling results cannot be published, the shorts competition among candidate camps is expected to intensify further. As media consumption patterns shift from TV to online, TV debate exposure has declined, with edited shorts featuring select scenes taking center stage instead. Candidates in tight races nationwide are maximizing the use of shorts as the core of their last-minute catch-up strategies. One opposition candidate's camp claimed that the ruling party candidate, who was leading in the polls, did not upload shorts after the TV debate because "it amounts to admitting they lost the debate."
The problem is that most of the shorts videos drawing voter attention are negative in nature. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk has uploaded more than 50 shorts videos over the past month, many of which criticize President Lee Jae-myung and Democratic Party candidates. In one 60-second video, allegations and controversies surrounding key Democratic Party candidates were edited together with the claim that "the true faces of the low-quality, malicious Democratic Party candidates are being revealed." On the YouTube channel of Oh Joong-ki, the Democratic Party's candidate for North Gyeongsang Province governor, a shorts video titled "Governor Who Went on Vacation During Wildfires… Shameless Gaffes" was uploaded. It cross-edited scenes of Oh berating People Power Party candidate Lee Cheol-woo during the TV debate with footage of Lee appearing flustered. Supporters then spread the videos through KakaoTalk group chats and social networking services, aiming for viral marketing.
Negative shorts are used more heavily among candidates in close races who hope for a "catch-up effect." Shorts videos featuring candidate schedules or campaign rallies generate rallying effects among core supporters with high political engagement, but their reach to opposing supporters or moderate voters is relatively low. For trailing candidates, the incentive to rely on negative videos highlighting opponents' weaknesses inevitably grows. An official from one metropolitan candidate's camp said, "Once a video catches on with the algorithm, the effect is greater than a full day of campaigning."
The Democratic Party and People Power Party are analyzing that close races are emerging in metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial elections in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang, and North Jeolla. In the Seoul mayoral race, a Munhwa Ilbo-Embrain Public survey released the same day (conducted May 26-27 via mobile phone interviews with 805 adults residing in Seoul) showed Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh and People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon tied at 39% support (margin of error ±3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level; for details, refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website). Polls in tight races such as Busan and Daegu also remain neck-and-neck.
However, some say the expansion of "shorts election campaigns" is not entirely negative. As political apathy becomes more pronounced with declining turnout in each election, some interpret shorts as an effective medium for piquing voter interest in politics. In fact, some candidates are using shorts in friendly ways, such as one-minute pledge explanations and voter interviews.
