Home > National > 2025 Presidential Election

Lee Jae-myung's 'hotel economics,' Kim Moon-soo's 'resignation': The Google searches of Korea's election

Published: 02 Jun. 2025, 20:07 Updated: 03 Jun. 2025, 10:38

Presidential candidates on June 1, from left: Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party and Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party [YONHAP]

Search trends on portal sites reveal the flow of issues in the 21st presidential election.

Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung was most associated with the Supreme Court’s decision to remand his campaign violation case and controversies involving his son while the Korean term for “single candidacy” was persistently tied to People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo. Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok drew little attention in search until an incendiary “chopsticks” debate comment triggered a spike in interest.

An analysis of rapidly rising related search terms by candidate, based on Google Trends data from April 7 to June 1 in two-week intervals, reveals key shifts in voter interest.

On April 14, Lee Jae-myung's first official campaign event as a primary candidate was a visit to the AI company Furiosa — a term that surged in search. Search terms related to Kim did not see any standout spike during the same period.

The PPP’s final four candidates were not confirmed until April 23. Still, according to Naver Data Lab, Kim's search volume on Naver outpaced those of other two major candidates on April 8 and 9. On April 8, Kim resigned from his ministerial post to run for president.

The period from April 21 to May 4 marked a turning point in the election.

On May 1, the Supreme Court remanded Lee Jae-myung’s campaign violation case with an implicit guilty verdict, presenting a major political crisis. The Korean words for “remand” and “appeal trial” rose sharply.

The Seoul High Court decided on May 7 to postpone the retrial until after the election. Between May 5 and 18, legal risks disappeared from the top rising search terms, replaced by keywords such as hotel gyeongjeron, or “hotel economics” — a phrase from Lee Jae-myung’s campaign speeches. During the first televised debate on May 18, Lee Jun-seok criticized Lee Jae-myung’s use of the term, drawing increased attention.

Kim was confirmed as the People Power Party’s candidate on May 3 but faced internal pressure to merge his candidacy with that of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had announced his own run the day before. The Korean term for “single candidacy” rose to the top of Kim’s associated search terms. Typically less searched than other candidates, Kim topped Naver’s search volume between May 3 and 17 amid the party’s internal dispute. Searches related to Lee's legal issues also declined during this period.

Presidential candidate placards are hung up in a street in northern Seoul on June 2, a day ahead of the June 3 election. [YONHAP]

From April 7 to June 1, “single candidacy” ranked second among Kim’s rapidly rising search terms. The term’s prominence coincided with Han’s effort to unify campaigns with Kim, Kim's May 7 attempt to block the party convention and the rejection of a party vote to replace the candidate on May 10. Later, with the possibility of a unified candidacy between Kim and Lee Jun-seok emerging, a phrase that translated to “Lee Jun-seok Kim Moon-soo resignation” trended between May 19 and June 1.

As for Lee Jun-seok, searches for a youth-oriented campaign event whose name translates to “Let's eat campus food” spiked, but the Korean terms for “military service,” “age” and “assets” did not see significant activity. That changed after the third TV debate on May 27, when he mentioned Lee Jae-myung’s son’s “chopsticks” comment. From that day, search volume for Lee Jun-seok surged, peaking on May 29 — the highest throughout the election period. “Chopsticks” also became one of the top rising related search terms for Lee Jae-myung.

One other notable figure in the trends was Kwon Young-guk, candidate from the Democratic Labor Party. Between May 5 and 18, “Kwon Young-guk” appeared among the top rising related search terms for all three major candidates. His performance in the first televised debate on May 18 likely contributed. Each of the three TV debates led to spikes in Naver search volume for Kwon.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY YOON SUNG-MIN [[email protected]]