President Lee Jae Myung marks the first anniversary of his inauguration on the 4th of next month. Over the past year, policy messages from President Lee have been produced in real time not only in the Blue House briefing room but also on the social media platform X. A comprehensive analysis by the Kyunghyang Shinmun of 625 X posts from his inauguration through the 16th found that his presence on X has functioned as a core governing instrument that goes beyond simple government publicity to set social agendas and rally his support base.

President Lee’s X politics can be summarized in four features: ① ‘direct line politics’ that connects straight to voters ② ‘agenda-setting politics’ in which the President throws out social agendas ③ ‘rebuttal politics’ that openly clashes with the opposition and the media ④ ‘personnel management politics’ that offers carrots and sticks to the civil service.

The analysis used the artificial intelligence (AI) tool Claude Code, with errors corrected by hand. When a post spanned multiple areas, it was not multiply categorized, so some omissions are possible. For example, a post that both explained real estate policy and criticized the opposition was categorized under ‘real estate’ rather than ‘politics’.

He posted on X outside working hours as well. Nearly half of all posts (49.1%) were concentrated after work and late at night. Posts in the evening hours (18:00 to before 23:00) accounted for 38.1% (238), and late night to early morning (23:00 to 06:00) made up 11% (69). Posts during working hours (09:00 to 18:00) totaled 42.4% (265).

By topic, summit diplomacy and foreign affairs (209 posts, 33.5%) were most numerous. Excluding foreign affairs, the share of the economy and livelihoods (including real estate and stocks, 129 posts, 20.6%) was large. The ways he used X were diverse. He shared media articles with brief comments, reposted replies from ordinary voters, and directly explained policy. He has repeatedly stressed, “It is only natural for the agent of the sovereign to communicate directly with the sovereign.” The live broadcast of cabinet meetings is interpreted as a communication method in the same vein.

Yoo Seung-chan, CEO of Storydot, evaluated, “President Lee is a figure who grew into a national politician through Twitter (now X) from his days as mayor of Seongnam,” and “He is the politician who makes the most effective use of social media.”

Chae Sun-ae, head of Embrain Trend Center, said, “In the AI era, rather than overly perfect messages, spontaneity, real-time response, and contingency are instead received by the public as authenticity,” adding, “A live cabinet meeting broadcast or real-time answers on X makes people feel that the personal philosophy and convictions of the President are revealed directly, which has the effect of increasing trust.”

Through X, he tossed out social questions. On each sensitive pending issue, such as the integration of metropolitan local governments, introduction of a sugar levy, reform of the basic pension, and improvements to the purchase-and-lease program, he publicly asked citizens, “What are your views?” He is using X not just to explain government policy but to spark debate on social agendas. At times, the message from the President itself served as a policy instrument. In real estate policy, he sent a direct signal to the market by warning multi-home owners that “the cost will outweigh the benefit of holding out.”

There were also many cases where presidential messages played the role of a government briefing. Often his X message appeared before the official briefing. This is why people in government circles say, “You should check the President on X first.” A government official said, “In the past, once instructions came down from the Blue House, civil servants coordinated internally before announcing policy, but now officials often encounter instructions from the President at the same time as the public,” adding, “Preparation time has decreased, but there is a sense in which administrative procedures have become more transparent.”

He often posted public rebuttals to the opposition and the media. He criticized calls by the opposition and conservative media for fiscal austerity as “like a broken record,” and directly responded to specific reports using expressions such as “fake news,” “fabrication,” and “distortion.” A Blue House official said, “When someone tries to pick a fight, the President becomes even more active on social networking services (SNS) and tends to enjoy refuting the other side's arguments point by point.”

In particular, of 22 posts on the judiciary, prosecution, and media, 20 (90.9%) were critical, rebuttal, or warning in tone. He strongly criticized media coverage dealing with past investigations of himself, reporting on the Daejang-dong allegations, and claims of “gangster ties,” and publicly demanded apologies. His manner of expression was often more direct than on other policy issues. On the 9th he defined “judicial killing through prosecutorial fabricated indictments, murder with a weapon using terrorists, and character assassination using manipulative media” as “three grave killing threats.” Such a hard-line response appeared to translate into a rallying effect among core supporters. The average number of ‘likes’ on posts related to the judiciary, prosecution, and media was about 92,000 per post, more than 15 times the overall average (6,000).

He did not shy away from controversy in foreign affairs, either. On April 10, after he shared a video allegedly showing human rights abuses by the Israeli military against Palestinians and wrote that “there is no difference between the massacre of Jews and killings in wartime,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel objected, and he expressed regret.

He also used X as a tool for rewards and penalties in the civil service. Posts publicly praising officials or ministries numbered 47, accounting for 7.5% of the total. Mentioning hardworking officials or ministries, he wrote, “Send them pizza, at least,” and “I will make sure the nosebleed you shed is compensated.” When sharing a minister's post, he sometimes commented, “You are doing well.” In practice, after Kwon Dae-young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, was promoted swiftly following public praise from the President, the view spread in the civil service that attention or praise from the President is directly linked to personnel evaluations.

Conversely, he warned of stern responses to dereliction of duty or tolerating illegality. He also announced via X that public officials who own multiple homes would be excluded from roles on the real estate policy team.

There were cautions that publicly referring to specific individuals could lead to political controversy. On December 8 last year, ahead of the June 3 local election primaries, he wrote of Jeong Won-oh, then head of Seongdong District in Seoul and a Seoul mayoral hopeful, “It seems he really does his job well,” and on the 11th, he shared a voter post saying they had voted for Cho Jeong-sik in the election for National Assembly Speaker. Chae said, “In a climate of severe political polarization, repeatedly mentioning certain individuals can appear biased to some voters.”

Experts largely agreed that President Lee’s X politics offers a new model of the public sphere. However, they also pointed out risks that could arise if the running of state affairs relies excessively on immediate messages from the President. A representative example is the post on January 30 written in Cambodian that read, “Touch a Korean and you will be ruined; does that sound like an empty threat?” Although it conveyed an intention to crack down on Chinese criminal organizations in Cambodia, it escalated into a diplomatic issue and was deleted.

Yoo said, “In a media environment where social media has become the dominant medium, it is positive for the President to take the initiative and send messages,” while adding, “Given the weight of the presidency, there needs to be a more systematized process for vetting and posting than now.” He continued, “Especially on foreign affairs or sensitive pending issues, even if it is cumbersome, messages should pass through filtering by aides and a red team,” and “raw expressions can instead heighten resistance, so meticulous message management is necessary.”