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President Lee joins TikTok, surpasses 100,000 followers in just four days

Published: 04 Mar. 2026, 10:40

President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a state dinner hosted by Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Capella Singapore on March 2. [YONHAP]

The president has entered the chat — President Lee Jae Myung has opened an official account on the global short-form video platform TikTok, expanding his social media outreach from X and Facebook. The account surpassed 100,000 followers in just four days, quickly drawing reactions from teenagers and young adults.

Lee launched the TikTok account under the name “jaemyung_lee” on Saturday. As of Tuesday afternoon, Lee’s follower count had topped 100,000, and seven short videos under one minute each had racked up millions of views combined.

With most schools nationwide having started the new year on Tuesday, the comments on the videos were filled with joking requests from students, including calls to delay the start of the semester, let them skip school or push back the start of classes by an hour.

Other comments asked for longer vacations or for after-school academies — known as hagwon in Korean — to be scrapped, and some drew thousands of likes and spread through online communities.

In his first video, Lee staged a scene in which he pressed the sign-up button on paperwork labeled “Sign up for TikTok” handed to him by an aide. “You know to follow, like and comment, right?” Lee said, flashing a hand-heart at the camera. “I’d appreciate your support.”

Lee has also shared clips from his overseas trip to Singapore on TikTok. He uploaded a video of himself participating in lo hei — the tradition of tossing yusheng (raw fish salad) popular among the country's Chinese communities — alongside Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, on Monday. The brief, friendly format was seen as a way to repackage diplomatic activities to fit the platform.

Lee has previously used Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to share his governing philosophy and policy direction. His move to TikTok is widely viewed as a strategy to broaden his connection with people in their teens and 20s, who are more accustomed to short-form video.

The presidential office described the move as part of an expansion of channels to strengthen digital communication. Political circles have also seen it as part of a broader trend of global leaders increasingly using TikTok, with Lee moving to engage younger audiences more directly.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]