TikTok Korea head underscores short-form video’s transformative global impact
Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing said Wednesday that recent momentum in China-Korea relations provides a “new driving force” for deeper cooperation, during a speech at the eighth edition of the Global Biz Forum hosted by The Korea Herald and Herald Business in Seoul.
Dai highlighted the significance of the recent APEC summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit “opened a new path for China-Korea relations.”
Quoting Xi, the ambassador said, “the stronger the wind and waves, the more we must move forward together on the same boat,” emphasizing that the message has “greatly encouraged” global efforts to uphold multilateralism and free trade.
The ambassador outlined three areas for potential progress. He urged both countries to deepen their understanding of each other’s development and maintain their belief in higher-level mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. He also encouraged Korean businesses to “seize the broad opportunities” of China’s modernization plans, describing “China’s economy as a vast ocean.”
Additionally, he called for stronger collaboration in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, biopharma, green technology and the silver economy, saying the two nations should build new growth engines for future partnership.
Following Dai’s remarks, Jung Jae-hoon, head of operations at TikTok Korea, delivered a lecture on the platform’s global rise and the transformative impact of short-form video on media.
Jung, a veteran media executive who has worked through major broadcasting transitions over the past two decades, said the industry is undergoing another fundamental shift driven by short-form video and TikTok.
Recalling earlier technological waves such as cable TV, mobile VOD, terrestrial DMB and satellite DMB, Jung said he had “the opportunity to work on every one of those platforms at the moment they peaked,” giving him firsthand insight into how media technologies emerge and decline. Against that backdrop, he explained “how short-form video and TikTok are now driving today’s media transformation.”
Jung emphasized that TikTok’s mission “to inspire creativity and bring joy” positions the platform not just as a social app but as a driver of global culture. While usage remains relatively low among general audiences in Korea, globally “one out of every eight people in the world uses TikTok.”
He described short-form video as “a compact communication unit that delivers a piece of information or a piece of culture on its own,” allowing users to absorb dense content quickly. This format has fueled viral trends in food, beauty and K-pop, with TikTok accelerating cross-border fads and even influencing purchasing behavior.
The platform’s expanding commerce ecosystem is also poised to reshape how K-products scale overseas.
“What you enjoy on TikTok can immediately lead to a product purchase,” he said. “Although TikTok Shop has not yet launched in Korea, Korean beauty brands are already seeing strong results abroad.”
For businesses, Jung emphasized two priorities: working closely with creators -- “Creators are TikTok’s most important partners” -- and adopting AI tools to streamline and elevate content production. He added that TikTok users are particularly receptive to new technology, being “1.6 times more likely to feel comfortable with AI” and more open to AI-driven advertising.
In the final session of the Global Biz Forum, poet Jeong Ho-seung read his own poem, “Journey,” concluding with a lecture on “what completes love,” bringing the event to a reflective and inspiring close.
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com
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