"Apartment," "Jiniya," "Ah! Hot": Three Distinct Campaign Songs... "Jilpunggado" Is Shared but Different

Lee Jaemyung Uses 18 Songs Including "Red Sunset" and Original Tracks
Kim Moonsoo Selects 11 Songs with Addictive Melodies
Lee Junseok Rewrites "Ah! Hot," Previously Used by Hong Junpyo

As the official campaign period for the June 3 presidential election begins, the official campaign theme songs of each candidate's camp are capturing the ears of voters. The selection ranges from pop songs to trot, offering a wide variety. Most of these songs share the common feature of already being used as cheer songs. This year, trot-style songs are also popular in the presidential election. However, for each candidate, there are only one or two original songs.

As the official election campaigns for the June 3 presidential election begin, the official campaign theme songs of each candidate's camp are capturing the ears of voters. The genres range from pop songs to trot. Most of the songs share the common feature of already being used as cheer songs. Photo by Jo Yongjun

Lee Jaemyung's campaign is using the most election songs among the candidates, with a total of 18 tracks. The campaign uses a mix of well-known and original songs that resonate with multiple generations, including Yoon Su Il's hit "Apartment," which is currently experiencing renewed popularity thanks to a remake by Ros?, as well as "Red Sunset," "Busan Seagull," and "Southbound Train." As for original songs, they are using "Now Is Lee Jaemyung," composed by Yoon Ilsang, and "From Now, the Real Republic of Korea," composed by Lilfish.

Lee Jae Myung's campaign is using the most election songs among the candidates, with a total of 18 tracks. They are using a variety of well-known and original songs that resonate with multiple generations, including Yoon Su Il's hit "Apartment," which is currently gaining renewed popularity as remade by Ros?, as well as "Red Sunset," "Busan Seagull," and "Southbound Train." Photo by Kim Hyun Min

The Kim Moonsoo campaign selected nationally beloved songs such as Kim Jongkook's "Sarangeureowo" and Jewelry's "Niga Cham Joha" as their campaign songs. In addition, they are using a total of 11 songs, including addictive melodies known as so-called "Suneung banned songs," such as Youngtak's "Jiniya" and SS501's "U R MAN." Lee Junseok, the Reform New Party candidate, is using a rewritten version of the trot song "Ah! Hot" by Park Hyunbin as his main campaign theme song. The revised lyrics include Lee Junseok's key messages such as "Number 4," "Overwhelming Novelty," and "A Choice That Opens the Future." This song was previously used by Hong Junpyo as a campaign song in the last presidential election. The Lee Junseok camp stated, "We will try to carry on the excitement of Chairman Hong Junpyo."

On the first day of the official campaign for the 21st presidential election on the 12th, banners of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jaemyung and Reform New Party candidate Lee Junseok are hung at Gongdeok Intersection in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

Among these, the campaign theme song "Jilpunggado" is being used by both the Lee Jaemyung Democratic Party camp and the Kim Moonsoo People Power Party camp. "Jilpunggado" is originally an animation theme song, famous for mass singalongs at baseball stadiums and university competitions. The "Jilpunggado" used by both candidates is based on the same melody. However, the lyrics have been rewritten to reflect each candidate's message and image. The chorus and main melody remain the same, but each version inserts the respective candidate's name, slogan, and policy direction.

The Kim Moonsoo campaign selected nationally beloved songs such as Kim Jongkook's "Sarangeureowo" and Jewelry's "Niga Cham Joha" as the main songs. It also included addictive melodies known as so-called "Suneung banned songs," such as Youngtak's "Jiniya" and SS501's "U R MAN." Photo by Kang Jinhyung

The Lee Jaemyung camp rewrote the lyrics to include his philosophy and goals, such as "Turning crisis into opportunity, candidate number one Lee Jaemyung opening a new era." The Kim Moonsoo camp changed the lyrics to highlight his own image, with lines such as "Unyielding even in rough waves, Kim Moonsoo leading Korea's development." However, some controversy has arisen over who used "Jilpunggado" first, since the Lee Jaemyung camp had already used it as an official campaign song in the 2022 20th presidential election before Kim Moonsoo. The reason for this controversy is that, as a general rule, if a competing party uses a campaign song first, other parties typically do not use the same song. In addition, the original creators often do not grant usage rights to parties they do not support.

However, according to a confirmation by Financial News with the Korea Music Copyright Association on May 13, both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party individually requested permission to use "Jilpunggado" as a campaign song and received approval from the original creators. A representative of the Copyright Association stated, "The composer and lyricist of 'Jilpunggado' signed to allow both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party to use the song as a presidential campaign theme." He added, "As far as I know, there is no problem with the same song being used by different campaigns." However, the association noted that it is quite rare for the same song to be used by different presidential campaigns.