President Lee Jae Myung’s frequent social media posts have caused a number of unintended controversies. Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the opposition People Power Party holds a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Sept. 30 over a document photo Lee posted on social media that exposed contentious phrases including “special counsel investigation into the National Election Commission” and “recounting ballots at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium.”NEWS1
Im Jang-hyuk
The author is a lawyer and the head of the political news department at the JoongAng Ilbo.
At a Sept. 18 press conference, President Lee Jae Myung said state affairs were too complex for him to be involved in everything. “People worry about micromanagement, but I have neither the time nor the capacity for it,” he said.
Yet over the next two weeks through Monday, Lee posted 88 messages on X, covering extremism, prosecution reform, a farmland survey, the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war, real estate speculation and voice phishing. He may actually delegate authority and demand accountability, as he says. But with his approval rating falling and momentum weakening, the problem is not whether he micromanages. It is that he appears to.
Since taking office, Lee has held 12 town halls nationwide and seven press conferences and briefings. Forty-seven Cabinet meetings he chaired since July 29 last year have been broadcast live. Each time, his words and expressions have reached viewers for roughly two hours through television and YouTube. He has posted more than 960 messages on X since his inauguration, generating countless news stories. His level of media exposure is unprecedented for a Korean president, and his posting has accelerated since the press conference.
The volume matters because presidential communication is never ordinary speech. Every remark can set the government’s agenda, move officials and dominate headlines. When such interventions arrive daily, even messages intended to demonstrate responsiveness can blur priorities and reinforce the impression that the president is personally directing every issue. That perception becomes especially costly when public confidence is weakening.
Social psychology describes an inverted-U relationship between exposure and favorability. Repeated exposure initially increases liking for a person or product, but beyond a certain point continued exposure can sharply reduce it. The political maxim that “all publicity is good publicity except your obituary” may work for little-known politicians. It does not apply to a president.
Frequent exposure also creates more opportunities for mistakes. Some of Lee’s 88 posts caused controversy but may have helped him politically. On Friday, he warned Ukraine of “additional measures” if it continued refusing to acknowledge facts and apologize over what he described as a breach of a confidential agreement concerning North Korean POWs. On Sunday, targeting critics within his own camp who categorically oppose Kim Ji-yong, nominee to head the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, he warned against “irresponsible extremism.”
Others looked more like unforced errors. On Thursday, Lee praised anti-voice phishing enforcement while attaching a government document showing material related to a “special counsel investigation into the National Election Commission.” He also used the joking expression “jwa-ahage,” a left-wing play on the Korean word for “elegantly” that replaces its first syllable with jwa, meaning “left.” The slang, sometimes used tongue-in-cheek in progressive circles to suggest doing something with “leftist elegance,” hardly conveyed presidential gravitas.
Psychology’s “negativity bias” suggests people remember negative stimuli longer than positive ones. Viewers may have felt satisfaction when Lee asked officials incisive questions during live broadcasts or laughed at his wit. What may linger longer, however, are impressions of fear, relentlessness and impatience.
Blue House aides I recently met shared one concern: What can be done to lift Lee’s approval rating after it fell into the 30-percent range?
That is the wrong question. The priority should be deciding what not to do and what to reduce. Media exposure should come first. The issue is less the image or tone Lee projects than how often he appears.
His aides surely know this. But changing a president’s habits is difficult. It may be particularly hard for a president who believes he suffered from distorted media coverage and regards speaking directly to citizens as an essential part of democracy.
At the opposite extreme was former President Park Geun-hye. Even before taking office, Park, benefiting from the political legacy of her father Park Chung Hee, maintained an air of mystery. Her private life and even parts of her working day were often veiled. Her administration could not convincingly explain the “seven missing hours” during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, and later could not contain the shock caused by revelations about the influence of her confidante Choi Soon-sil. Park ultimately failed to complete her term.
The answer is not to emulate Park. Between Lee’s hypervisibility and Park’s secrecy lies a vast middle ground.
Extremism should be avoided in the use of media, too.
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.
