Plagiarism Controversy Surrounds Jeong Sye-kyun's 'TikTok Dokdo Video'... Netizens Say "That's TikTok Culture"

Former Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun Posted Dokdo Video on TikTok on the 16th
Some Point Out Similarity to a Previously Uploaded Video
TikTok, Popular Among 1020 Generation, Has Unique 'Challenge' Culture
Method of Gradual Spread by Replicating Certain Popular Videos

Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun posted a promotional video of Dokdo on his TikTok account on the 16th. / Photo by TikTok capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] "Huh? I've seen this video somewhere before."

Jeong Se-gyun, a presidential candidate from the ruling party, has been caught up in plagiarism allegations. Some netizens pointed out that a promotional video for Dokdo posted by Jeong on the video streaming application TikTok "looks similar to a video uploaded in the past." Jeong did not specify any original source when uploading the Dokdo video. However, some argue that these claims are misunderstandings and counter that "video replication is part of TikTok culture."

On the 16th, Jeong posted a short video on his TikTok account. In the video, Jeong appears in various outfits such as casual wear, magician, cowboy, suit, and rapper, and towards the end, he appears wearing a T-shirt with the phrase "Dokdo is Korean territory." It seems to be a video made to promote the message that "Dokdo is Korean land."

However, some have raised concerns that this might be plagiarism. They pointed out that the editing concept of one person quickly changing multiple costumes is similar.

Jeong’s video resembles one posted by the Canadian TikTok account 'restepepe.' Known domestically as the "TikTok master Western grandmother," the video features an elderly woman quickly changing into various outfits. The room layout and the order of outfits shown are also similar to Jeong’s video.

TikTok video from the Canadian account 'restepepe' featuring content progressing with a concept similar to the video of former Prime Minister Jeong / Photo by TikTok capture

Restepepe is an account planned by the Quebec government in Canada. According to local media 'La Presse,' it was created to encourage and support elderly people who suffered greatly due to the spread of COVID-19.

In response, some netizens criticized, saying, "If the video copied the exact layout and concept without permission, isn’t that practically plagiarism?" "Jeong did not indicate the source," and "Did he get consent?"

On the other hand, some find the plagiarism allegations absurd. One netizen wrote on social media, "It seems that people unfamiliar with TikTok misunderstood," and explained, "As more people imitate or parody popular videos, they become increasingly famous, which is part of TikTok’s play culture."

According to these explanations, TikTok users have a culture called the so-called 'challenge.'

When a particular video gains a lot of attention, others create and upload videos imitating it, and this process is called a 'challenge.' A representative example is last year’s singer Zico’s song 'Summer Hate,' which gained attention through a challenge and became very popular on TikTok.

Meanwhile, TikTok, which is explosively popular among the 10-20 age group, has recently attracted the interest of politicians both domestically and internationally. Andrew Yang, who participated in the 2020 U.S. Democratic presidential primary, previously gained attention by uploading his dance video on TikTok in 2019.

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