[Choice Times=Dong-Hoon Lee, Senior Spokesperson of the Reform Party]

The recent allegation of a so-called “prosecution cancellation deal,” raised on Kim Eo-jun’s YouTube channel, has laid bare the true face of Korean politics.

The political forces that have long actively utilized Kim Eo-jun’s YouTube channel are now turning around and branding him a “fake news factory.”

When Kim Eo-jun interpreted Prime Minister Kim Min-seok’s visit to the United States as a “program to cultivate a future presidential contender,” the prime minister dismissed Kim’s channel as a “martial arts fiction factory.”

Indeed, it is a “fiction factory.” But then why did they appear on that very “fiction factory” so eagerly?

President Lee Jae-myung himself appeared on Kim Eo-jun’s YouTube channel at key political moments, including presidential and parliamentary elections.

Even after taking power, presidential office officials and ruling party politicians frequently visited the channel.

According to one survey, since the 22nd general election, lawmakers appeared on the channel a total of 958 times.

Excluding weekends, that amounts to an average of 2.3 appearances per day.

Of those, 824 were lawmakers from the broader Democratic camp, while only one came from the People Power Party.

Kim Eo-jun’s YouTube channel was a sanctuary for the left, and Kim himself functioned as a “President of Chungjeongno.”

But as circumstances changed, so did their attitude.

Now they denounce Kim as a “fake news factory” and speak of regulation and accountability.

Was he an ally yesterday and a dangerous YouTuber today?

The essence of the problem is simple.

When it served their interests, they used it even knowing it was flawed. Now that it no longer does, they call for regulation. They built a power structure that could be used to attack the right without accountability, and now they speak of media responsibility.

With such an attitude, it is impossible to establish rules for the YouTube public sphere.

Politics uses YouTube, and YouTube, in turn, uses political power.

There is nothing surprising about this.

President Lee Jae-myung, how does “the taste of Kim Eo-jun” feel now?

#KimEoJunControversy #YouTubePolitics #LeeJaeMyung