Photo: Kim Seon-tae announces retirement. Credit: Chungji YouTube channel.
On February 13, Kim Seon-tae 김선태, a minor public official in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province 충청북도 충주, announced his retirement on the city-owned YouTube channel. Better known as “Chungju-man 충주맨,” Kim opened new frontiers in local government social media management as he singlehandedly built Chungju’s YouTube channel into an astounding million-subscriber juggernaut.
Kim passed the public service exam in 2016 at age 29, after eight years of unsuccessful attempts to pass the bar. He joined the municipal government of a rural town with approximately 200k residents as a bottom-tier functionary and was given the task of managing the town’s Facebook page, and later its YouTube channel. His hilarious Facebook posting game - low-effort memes for high social-media impact - quickly took him viral.
Kim grew the town’s YouTube channel, which featured five-minute shorts showcasing the town and its people, to 100k subscribers in just one year, and reached nearly a million subscribers by February 2026. Kim directed and shot every video on an annual budget of just KRW 600k (USD 415), tirelessly advertising local festivals and construction schedules. Kim, whose resume also includes a bestselling book on social media promotion, said he plans to explore a career path other than public service or politics.
