- Title: Could YouTube be shaping South Korea's political crisis?
- Date: 16th December 2024
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (DECEMBER 12, 2024) (REUTERS) RIGHT-WING YOUTUBER, KO SUNG-KOOK, SITTING IN STUDIO CAMERA POINTED AT KO GALLERY OF YOUTUBE STUDIO KO ON STUDIO MONITOR (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) HOST OF RIGHT-WING YOUTUBE CHANNEL KOSUNGKOOK TV, KO SUNG-KOOK, SAYING: "YouTube covers everything from left to right, from conservatives to progressives. I think in that regard, the m
- Embargoed: 30th December 2024 05:16
- Keywords: Ko Sung-kook South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol YouTube martial law politics protest
- Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
- City: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001712214122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's claims of election fraud and accusations that his political opponents are 'anti-state forces', are familiar rhetoric for right-wing YouTuber Ko Sung-kook.
Ko, a political commentator who hosts a YouTube channel with 1.1 million subscribers, has seen the president overtly embrace familiar arguments about stolen elections and pro-North Korea forces lurking in the south's politics.
Speaking in his modest office that doubles as a studio, Ko said he did not know for certain if Yoon is watching his show, but is glad YouTubers provide an alternative platform for Yoon to consume.
"If President Yoon Suk Yeol listens to the voices of YouTubers attentively, he may understand what the people really think, what the public sentiment of the president's supporters are, that's what I'm expecting," Ko said.
Critics and observers have long said that Yoon appears to have been lured into anti-establishment, right-wing political media and has used language popularised by far-right YouTubers.
"The language that President Yoon has used for the past two and a half years, and most of all, in his recent declaration of emergency martial law and the decree, appears to be almost identical to what the far-right people use, according to my research," sociology professor Shin Jin-wook told Reuters.
Yoon's office did not respond to Reuters' questions for this story.
YouTube has become an important source of news for many South Koreans. About 53% of South Koreans say they get news on YouTube, far higher than an average of 30% in other countries, according to a 2023 report by Korea Press Foundation. That was up from 24% in 2016 among South Koreans.
A 2018 survey by Chosun Ilbo newspaper showed 70% of far-right wing rally participants said YouTube is their primary news source.
"Not long ago, before the impeachment vote, I actually watched TV news like TV Chosun or Channel A. However, after seeing them reporting fake news, I don't watch TV news anymore, I only watch YouTube instead," 71 year-old Ko viewer and Yoon supporter Lee Kwang-hyun told Reuters.
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