The Democratic Party of Korea began pilot broadcasts of its own YouTube channel, "Democratic Party TV," on the 1st, marking a push to build its own media platform. Party leader Kim Min-seok appeared as a guest on the program "Minti 07," which aired from 7 a.m. that day, and said the channel should serve as a daily briefing on the party's positions.
"I hope this becomes a broadcast where we carefully select and deliver at least one message a day about what the party's position is," Kim said.
More than 4,000 people were waiting before the broadcast began, and viewership rose to 30,000 shortly after Kim appeared in the studio. Concurrent viewers exceeded 54,000 in the latter half of the program.
Kim said the channel grew out of a simple concern. "It started from a very modest sense that the party should officially and responsibly explain what it is doing and where it stands, every single day," he said. "There are many good broadcasts and plenty of commentary out there, but sometimes things get confusing. We thought it was right for us to be the first to lay out our position and share new information, as a basic obligation."
The program runs 37 minutes under a policy of keeping it short and pointed. "This isn't entertainment, so we can't offer all kinds of amusement," Kim said. "We thought it best to get to the point from the start and keep it under 40 minutes rather than stretching to an hour."
For the first installment, Kim outlined his "Mega Ten" plan, a blueprint he has been presenting since the party convention. It condenses the party's core priorities into 10 task forces, with livelihood issues as the top priority alongside party reform and youth policy, aimed at driving large-scale national growth.
"They say 24 or 25 task forces and steering groups were created after this convention, and Mega Ten is the core of the core among them," Kim said. "It is a structure that reforms the party around people's livelihoods, builds points of contact with young people and brings mega-growth into bloom."
On livelihoods, the task forces will cover everything from neighborhood commercial districts and other issues close to daily life to livelihood problems in the age of artificial intelligence. Party reform items include party member sovereignty, deliberative democracy, an AI-driven party, nomination reform and party diplomacy. On youth policy, the party plans to run a "1030 Youth Policy Group," a youth cultural festival and a proposed second party headquarters in the Gwanghwamun area in parallel.
"The first measure of success is the party's key capabilities starting to run at a frightening pace," Kim said. "We have to earn the assessment that the Democratic Party has changed and is running as a ruling party should." He added that the job of the party leader and leadership is process management, and that results and progress would keep coming.
Kim also said, "I believe politics that studies is the best politics, and a party that studies is the best party. If Democratic Party TV is judged to be a broadcast that gives the feeling of studying, that would be the highest praise for the party."
The first broadcast also touched on Kim's visit to the wake for the father of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, who died the previous day. Kim drew a line at any suggestion that political matters were discussed there. "The situation is complicated, but since it was a funeral, I thought it was best for both sides to observe courtesy at that time," he said.
