[After the Audit] ② Aides Join the "Shorts War"... Between Views and Policy

Four in 10 Lawmakers' Offices Seek Video Staff
Aides Grapple With “Translating Policy” Amid the Race for Views
Kim Hangyu's Office Turns Shorts Comments Into a Public Feedback Channel and Policy Proposals
Lee Junseok's Office: “Shorts Make Policy Accessible to the Politically Disengaged”

Demand is growing in political circles for staff with hands-on video production skills. The language of politics, including parliamentary audits, is changing. Shorts lasting around 30 seconds have become a new way to communicate complex policies to the public in simple terms. However, there are concerns that they leave only sensational scenes behind, distorting the context of political clashes and parliamentary audits.

The Asia Business Daily analyzed 447 job postings published on the National Assembly offices’ recruitment board from the start of this year through November 3. The analysis found that 169 postings (37.8%) listed video skills as a job requirement or preferred qualification. In other words, nearly four in 10 postings took practical video skills into account in hiring. Some listed proficiency with video-editing software as a preferred qualification or required applicants to submit a portfolio.

As Shorts become more important, the workload for legislative aides is also increasing. Views and audience reactions, in particular, have become unavoidable measures of performance. Some aides even run KakaoTalk group chats where they share videos with one another and give them likes.

An aide to a Democratic Party lawmaker serving a second term said, "I feel considerable pressure over view counts as a staff member," adding, "I look at the channels of lawmakers on the same standing committee to identify areas where we fall short." Another aide said, "At times, I feel a gap between the video style familiar to younger people and the lawmaker's preferences," adding, "Finding a balance between views, the message, and how it is presented is something I struggle with every time."

That said, Shorts are not used solely as megaphones for political clashes. More efforts are being made to use them to explain complex policies in simple terms and communicate with voters.

The office of Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hangyu turns every question he asks during parliamentary audits into a Short and includes the names of the aides who prepared the questions. The goal is to show that the National Assembly is addressing issues affecting people's daily lives, even in an environment where politically combative remarks dominate the algorithms.

Comments can also serve as a kind of public complaints channel. After a citizen commented on a Short posted by Kim's office about easing speed restrictions in a child protection zone, sharing their experience observing children traveling to and from the school in question, the office reviewed the possibility of easing restrictions on that stretch of road with the relevant agencies. An official from Kim's office said, "This is a case where a single comment led to a policy proposal," adding, "Topics that receive strong reactions in the form of shares or comments help us gauge public interest and consider policy directions together."

The office of Reform Party lawmaker Lee Junseok sees Shorts as an "entry point" for drawing people who are disengaged from politics into policy discussions. When choosing topics, it first considers whether viewers will learn something new before or after the question, rather than focusing on scenes where voices are raised or an opponent is caught off guard. Discrepancies between government-reported figures and actual data, contradictions between policies, and institutional loopholes that agencies cannot explain all provide material for Shorts. One example is the alleged overpricing in contracts on the Public Procurement Service's Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS), which Lee highlighted during the last parliamentary audit.

An official from Lee's office said, "What matters is not how hard someone was pressed, but what problem was identified and verified," adding, "In particular, editors need to understand the policy properly to avoid the mistake of leaving only sensational scenes in the video."

As communication with the public through Shorts has become unavoidable, the key is deciding what to keep and what to leave out. An official from the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Minhee said, "There is no better tool than Shorts for attracting attention," adding, "But Shorts should be a way to inform people about parliamentary audits; parliamentary audits should not be conducted for the sake of Shorts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.