South Korea's Justice Minister shares his phone number with 2030 youth advisors, posts face-swap MV short

South Korea's Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho told a room of young policy advisors to pull out their phones. Then he read out his personal mobile number.

This happened at the 3rd-term Ministry of Justice 2030 Youth Advisory Group inauguration on June 22 at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. "If there is no change even after making suggestions, send me a direct text message and I will take it into consideration," Jung said. "Please make sure to suggest."

The group he was addressing has 26 members aged 19 to 39—university and graduate students, youth interns, professors, teachers, and office workers. Since 2024, the first two cohorts logged 54 regular meetings, submitted 47 policy proposals, and visited 11 Ministry field sites.

Jung spoke in economic terms his audience would feel. "Even if KOSPI reaches 9,000 or 10,000, what does it mean to you if I don't have money in hand?" he asked. He pivoted to housing fraud: "Jeonse fraud victims—aren't people without homes the victims? Those being scammed are all from the 2030 generation. You must narrow that gap."

He closed by asking for ideas rooted in lived experience, not older policymakers' theories. "Not the thoughts of older generations like me, but from your generation, as you feel it in your skin."

The Ministry amplified the moment on social media. On June 29, the official YouTube channel 법무부TV posted a Shorts video titled 2030에게 번호 공개한 장관 ("Minister Who Disclosed His Number to 2030s"). The clip opens with Jung's face composited onto actor Oh Jung-se playing singer Choi Seong-gon in the film Wild Things (dir. Son Jae-gon, opened June 3), lip-syncing to the song 니가 좋아, with the subtitle "2030 니가 좋아" on screen. The song's standalone MV featuring Oh Jung-se had crossed 3.02 million views as of June 29; Wild Things itself had reached approximately 1.24 million cumulative admissions as of June 30.