On June 3, MBC aired its special election coverage under the theme “Democracy Again: Choice 2025.” The broadcast made use of AI-generated visuals that bridged past and present, highlighting themes of independence, democracy, and unity through immersive storytelling.
At 7:58 p.m., just before the joint exit poll results were announced by Korea’s three major terrestrial broadcasters — KBS, MBC, and SBS — familiar and inspiring faces appeared in the footage: BTS and director Bong Joon Ho.
BTS was featured for their historic 2018 speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where leader RM delivered a powerful message urging youth to speak up and find their voice. MBC spotlighted his now-famous line: “Instead of dreaming while looking at the stars, let’s all take one more step forward.”
Director Bong Joon Ho was shown in reference to his groundbreaking achievements at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. His film Parasite became the first Asian film — and the first Korean film — to win Best Picture, alongside wins for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. His presence in the election footage offered another moment of national pride.
Meanwhile, the exit poll results aired at 8 p.m. showed Lee Jaemyung leading with 51.7%, followed by Kim Moonsoo with 39.3%, a difference of 12.4 percentage points. Reform Party candidate Lee Junseok received 7.7%, Democratic Labor Party’s Kwon Youngguk had 1.3%, and independent candidate Song Jinho trailed with 0.1%.
The joint exit poll was conducted by Korea Research, Ipsos, and Hankook Research at 325 polling stations nationwide. It surveyed 80,146 voters from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, with a margin of error of ±0.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
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