Based on the research “Politics of Aegyo:

Discursive and Affective Patterns of Embodied

Cuteness in South Korea.”

This research was funded by Underwood

International College through “2015 UIC
Research Project- Korea (URP-Korea).” For
further inquiries, contact UIC Academic Advisor
Sol-A Yu (solasola@yonsei.ac.kr) or refer to
UIC official website (http://uic.yonsei.ac.kr).
cover image: Kwon Eun Bean, Producer 101, MNet, 2016
Publisher I Jin-bae Chung mnettv.interest.me/produce101/main.dbp
Editorial Director I Michael Kim
Research Advisors I Aljosa Puzar

Politics of Aegyo
Sol-A Yu
Author I Sehee Eom (UD ‘12)
Yewon Hong (UD ‘12)
Graphic Designer I Sehee Eom

Discursive and Affective Patterns of

Embodied Cuteness in South Korea
2 Politics of Aegyo Politics of Aegyo 3

WHAT IS
KEY RESEARCH POINTS

01 Similar concepts of
02 How can aegyo be
03 What does this tell

AEGYO?
aegyo exist across
East Asian regions, what
similarities/differences do they
have with aegyo? What does
this imply about each culture?
    DISCOVERING & DEFINING AEGYO                                     
seen as “Korean,”
in relation to varous Korean-
specific concpets, and how
is it tied it to the various
structural chcaracteristics of
Korean society?
us about the posi-
tionality of women in Korean
society in general, and what
implications does it have
for the future of feminism in
Korean society?

THE DEFINITON OF AEGYO

Aegyo is a complex articu- 0 2 4 6 8 10 12

lation of behaviors, linguistic
forms (word-choice, grammar CUTE PHYSICAL APPEARANCE 10.63

and intonation), gestures, nar-

10.17
ratives and fashions aiming SINCERE AFFECTION

to deliver childish cuteness,

WHY AEGYO?
Hyeri, a female idol celeb-
rity, gained her popularity
through her performance of
Hyeri, Girls Day MV “Hello Bubble,” 2015
little study done in the aca- but also in non-personal
demic field about aegyo, realms, such as work envi-
unlike other Korean-specific ronment, and even between
INNOCENCE 9.4
frequently observed among
Korean women and occa- NUNCHI 9.28
sionally and non-dominantly
in young men. It includes CHILDISH OR SPECIAL LANGUAGE, GRAMMAR 8.53
aspects ranging from directly
embodied features, such as CUTENESS/AEGYO OF ANIMALS 8.33
voice and gestures, to those
indirectly helping or under- RESEMBLANCE TO AEGYO OF CELEBRITIES 7.62
pinning the articulation of
female cuteness, including EMPATHY (BEING NICE TO EVERYONE) 7.44

aegyo in one of Korea’s reality cultural concepts, such as strangers having casual con- objects, narratives and more.
SUBMISSIVENESS (POLITENESS)
show programs. Her aegyo jeong, nunchi and chemyon. versations, not to mention its There are many verbal and 7.24

was marketed in various tele-
vision programs, advertise-
ments, even emoticons for
chat-room apps. We were
intrigued by the strong, mixed
responses to her aegyo from
different groups of people and
went on to speculate the spe-
cific cultural phenomenon.
Once the topic caught our
attention, we realized how
aegyo was deeply rooted
in South Korea’s complex
society. Yet there was very
Our goal was to find out how
aegyo operates within the cul-
tural context of South Korea,
and what implications it has
for feminism and female “soft
power” in the future of Korea.
Aegyo is a cultural phe-
nomenon that constructs the
everyday lives of Koreans and
influences how they behave in
different situations and rela-
tionships. It is widely per-
formed not just among family
members, friends and lovers,
popularity in Korea’s popular
culture and idol culture. Aegyo
interacts with Korea’s complex
societal structure layered with
neo-Confucianism, hyper-cap-
italism, post-colonialism and
many more. Aegyo, thus, is
not only another social skill for
South Koreans but it is some-
thing that directly represents
South Korean hierarchical
order, gender roles and indi-
rect power disparity.
vocal aspects of aegyo, gen-
PRETENDING (GASIK) 7.04
erally characterized by high-
pitched, nasal voice accom- SEXUAL NUANCE 6.9
panied by abnormal pronunci-
ation or grammatically incor- OTHER 3.44
rect sentence structure, often
accompanied by a childish
expression. There is no sin-
gular definition or description of aegyo or behavior that What makes aegyo aegyo?
is classified as aegyo, but being adorable and cute is
the common factor of anything that is considered to We asked survey responders to pick 5 of
be aegyo. The graph shows what survey responders the most important factors in aegyo, and
picked and ranked as the most important factor for a to rank them according to imporanc. This is
certain behavior to be aegyo. the graphic representation of the result.
AEGYO
INSIDE &
KOREAN AEGYO

OUTSIDE
Korean brand of
winsomeness distinguishes
WOMEN SKILLFUL AT AEGYO AND HER NUNCHI. SHE: itself from its counterparts
60 as it inevitably interacts with
Korea’s complex societal
50
structure layered with neo-
    KOREAN AEGYO                                    40 Confucianism, hyper-
30 capitalism, post-colonialism
and other Korea’s cultural
AEGYO IN OTHER CULTURES 20
concepts, such as jeong, han,
10 chemyon and nunch i. Even
0 though aegyo operates by
Similar concepts of aegyo
NEITHER/IT IS NOT BOTH, DEPENDING
putting oneself in the position
exist in other countries in HAS NUNCHI DOES NOT HAVE
of the immature child, it should
the East Asian region. All NUNCHI RELEVANT ON THE SITUATION
not be understood as random
the performances of female MALE FEMALE bursts of emotion. There are
winsomeness in different
strict social rules governing
East-Asian cultures seem to DOES AEGYO CONTRIBUTE TO THE CULTURE OF 'JEONG' IN the use of aegyo , for both the
share some similarities: cute
KOREAN SOCIETY OR COMMUNITY? (E.G. FAMILY, NATION ETC) person performing aegyo and
and childish yet potentially
the person on the receiving
sexual invitation for attention 80
end. Therefore aegyo cannot
and protection from others.
60 be discussed outside the
In Chinese culture, there is
context of Korean society,
sajiao (撒娇), which literally 40 and various Korea-specific
means “throwing tantrum
from “My Sunshine,” Croton Media, 2015 (China). concepts. What is considered
like a young child.” Sajiao 20
In this scene, Zhao Mosheng is asking her husband to be acceptable about aegyo
is often characterized by
to go outside with her during their trip together. 0 exists within the system due
tantrums and public pouting
YES NO IT IS IRRELEVANT BOTH, DEPENDING to the constant regulation
which resembles that of
ON THE SITUATION and censorship by the rules
a spoiled child, possibly
of nunchi . Most of our survey
putting young women in a MALE FEMALE responders and interlocutors
position of immature child
agreed that nunchi was
that needs male guidance
essential for performing aegyo
and supervision. The Japanese counterpart of
successfully. In another question, more than 40% of responders
Korean aegyo could be found in the concept of
said that aegyo , in some way, contributes to jeong, or collectivism
amae (甘え), which describes a set of behaviors
in Korea. Both results show how performed and mediatized aegyo
that indicate one’s desire to be loved and cared
coexists with traditional values, confirming the need to analyze
by others. Women with amae tendencies will
the concept not only comparatively and transnationally but also
depend on others, such as their superiors at
in relation to other local Korean concepts, both traditional and
work, desiring attention and protection from
recent.
them in exchange for nuanced submission.

from “Ties of Shooting Stars,” TBS, 2008 (Japan). Shizuna is listening attentively
to her older brother, who is trying to help her out through a rough situation.
examples of Korean Celebrities performing aegyo, from top to bottom:
Yuju, Gfriend official twieet, 2015. twitter.com/gfrdofficial; Sunny, Girl’
s Generation MV “Oh Oh Oh Oh,” 2010; Suzy, Bean Pole Advertisement,
2015, blog.samsungfashion.com/beanpole; Yura, Girls Day MV “Female
President,” 2013; IU, KangHeart, SBS, 2012, tv.sbs.co.kr/kangheart
6 Politics of Aegyo Politics of Aegyo 7

SURVEY &
mood, atmosphere and situa-
tion, whereas Korean aegyo Performing and Receiving Aegyo:
is more about onomatopoeic
words and sounds. COMFORTABLE RECEIVING AEGYO FROM: WOULD BE ABLE TO AEGYO TO:

INTERVIEW
WHEN DO YOU USE
CELEBRITY
AEGYO?
SUBORDINATE/JUNIORS
F: I think aegyo is a great
tool when communicat- SUPERIOR/BOSS/SENIORS
    RESEARCHING AEGYO                                    ing with the elderly. When
you talk softly, they will per- FRIEND/COLLEAGUE
ceive you as polite, likable. So
95% The research mostly relies on ethnographic data, but also
employs data from the non-ethnographic sources to support
aegyo makes it easier to com-
municate with older people,
LOVER

responded aegyo is and broaden our findings. There were interlocutors from differ- because communicating with FAMILY

good for women at ent ethnographic backgrounds, participating in in-depth, non- them is totally different from
structured interviews. To back this up, two different surveys talking to your peers. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
least in some situations
were created, one with 14 questions focusing on the relation
of aegyo and Korean society and the other with 6 questions But then I believe aegyo works
0% directed towards finding out the perception of aegyo on an indi- way better for opposite sex WOMENT SKILLFUL AT AEGYO AND VERTICAL SOCIAL
responded female vidual level. A total of 144 and 56 people, respectively, partici- than for the elderly. It is so MOBILITY (SUCCESS IN PROFESSIONAL AND PRIVATE LIFE)
pated in the two surveys. All the interviews and survey ques- obvious! It’s almost like asking
aegyo was bad for tions aimed to explore similarities and differences of aegyo to why heterosexuals like oppo- 80
men. other types of performed cuteness in other nations, what aspect site sex and homosexuals like 60
of it is specifically Korean, and what the position of female per- the same sex. Aegyo is one of 40
formers are, showing how aegyo could be understood by differ- the charms people can have
70% ent members of society. Some interesting answers and findings and I think it can be sexual.
20

said aegyo was are introduced to give a better understanding of the nature of 0

important or very aegyo, which our study focused on. Random alpahabets were HOW DO YOU THINK FOR- GENERALLY GENERALLY BOTH, BETTER IN

PRIVATE,
BETTER IN AEGYO IS NOT

PROFESSIONAL, RELEVANT FOR

assigned to each interlocutors. EIGNERS WILL THINK OF BETTER WORSE DEPENDING ON
important in romantic ONE’S SUCCESS
AEGYO? SITUATION WORSE IN WORSE IN

relationships PROFESSIONAL PRIVATE IN LIFE

INTERVIEW E: Foreigners will not get the MALE FEMALE TOTAL

WHAT IS YOUR EXPLANA-
TION OR UNDERSTANDING
You OF KOREAN AEGYO?
need
nunchi J: Aegyo would be a certain
to know type of cuteness. For
when to deploy example, if someone made a
aegyo gun, then mistake, he/she could lessen
you have to the tension by acting cute and
pretend nothing making the others forget their
happened to keep anger or negative feelings.
your chemyon. Aegyo also has an element of
humor and playfulness.
-interlocutor a
F: I think aegyo includes being
nice, smiling and taking care
of someone, so in that case
I was doing aegyo to foreign
tourists visiting the guest-
house while I was working
there. They were an old
couple, and after I was really
nice to them, smiling and
stuff, they were very happy,
even asked me to visit them
later… I think Korean aegyo
is different from “aegyo”
from other countries. I don’t
know how to do aegyo in
English. I also watched lots of
Chinese TV series, but then
their aegyo was more about
feeling of the aegyo as we do,
but of course they will have
their own type of aegyo. The
foreigners will like Korean
style of aegyo, too, though
they may not understand it
as we do. Foreigners cannot
really get the same feeling
from (Korean) aegyo as we
do.
CAN YOU GIVE US A POSI-
TIVE EXAMPLE OF USING
AEGYO?
K: I know a girl from a school
activities I once did. She has a
lot of aegyo. She has a strong
opinion, and when things are
not done according to her will,
she will be very angry. Once
we were deciding on which
color our group T-shirt should
be. It wasn’t even an important
topic. I guess she didn’t like
the color that everyone liked,
she wanted a pastel color.
She started to talk like a baby,
transforming her complaints
into something that resembles
aegyo. She threw a tantrum
in the end. I also remember
her crying like a baby because
someone rejected her opinion.
WHY DO MEN/WOMEN LIKE
AEGYO?
D: So aegyo would be mostly
between lovers or by women
who want some attention or to
be liked. This is the purpose.
But men like women with
aegyo because women can
hide their purpose. They can
hide their purpose and use
aegyo as an instinct to make

8 Politics of Aegyo
themselves liked. The purpose
is underneath their actions.
So they can achieve their
purpose without disappointing
the opposite party. Wanting
to be liked by others is like
an instinct. Women instinc-
tively know what can get them
liked by men. I think that is an
instinct. What man would be
able to resist aegyo?
The reason only some women
like aegyo has much to do with
age. If you are a peer, or in
the same age group, you may
be disgusted by it. But as you
get experience and get older,
then you can just see aegyo
as cute. Because you have
become more relaxed. Simply,
it means that one performing
aegyo is not your competitor
anymore.
HAVE YOU EVER WIT-
NESSED AEGYO IN YOUR
WORKPLACE?
C: In the workplace, I haven’t
seen men acting like this. For
men, it is just being friendly.
We do have women in the
workplace even though we
have mostly men, and the
bunwigi (ambience) is differ-
ent if we have women at work.
If the woman is friendly and
has aegyo then the bunwigi
becomes lighter. It is helpful
to the women herself if she
has a lot of aegyo. The evalu-
ation of colleagues would be
different. If she is even good
at her work, there would be
a synergy. That is what my
workplace wants from female
workers.
WHAT IS A “GOOD” AEGYO?
E: It would depend on whether
there is a purpose or not. It
would differ according to the
situation. If there is too much
aegyo in the workplace, it
would be frowned upon. But it
would be better received if it
is done between lovers, or to
family members. Like I said, I
think the difference is whether
you have a purpose or not.
CAN SOMEONE HAVE
NATURAL AEGYO?
D: Girls with aegyo and girls
without aegyo is a difference
of nature. It is a personality
difference. It is about being
sweet, cheery, but not nec-
essarily positive. There is a
personality with lots of aegyo
and personality without lots of
aegyo. Even if someone who
does not have aegyo watches
lots of YouTube videos teach-
ing him/her how to perform
aegyo, he/she would not be
able to do it.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE
IS A PRESSURE TO
PERFORM AEGYO?
K: One of my uncles directly
told my dad that I have no
aegyo and that I am not
daughter-like. Of course they
would hate it if my younger
brother does aegyo because
he is a boy. Anyway, instead
of doing cute stuff, I spoke
few English sentences to
please them, especially my
dad. I think my dad really
liked it, showing off how smart
and capable his daughter is,
instead of me acting cute in
front of everyone. So it was as
if I am his pikkachu! He would
demand me to show off some
skill I learned, and I would
do it. So I did something else
instead of doing aegyo.
RedVelvet MV “Dumb Dumb”
F: I remember this
meme that went viral
few months ago in
Facebook. It says
“Dear women without
aegyo: if you read
this phrase 10 times
per day then you
will be able to have
aegyo!” and it was
“Gishingggungggotto”
(기싱꿍꼬또). I
thought it was funny
and somewhat weird.
Why would someone
need to practice
aegyo and for what?
OBSERVATIONS
An observation on a
female employee of a
Korean company shows
how aegyo is used to one’s
advantage, in various situ-
ations. When she said rude
things, she would employ an
aegyo-like tone and style of
speech. She freed herself
from social responsibility of
being polite by positioning
herself as a carefree child,
so someone who would criti-
cize her rudeness will imme-
diately receive negative com-
ments from others for taking
something to be unneces-
sarily serious when she was
just being playful. She inten-
tionally made her voice high-
pitched, generated uncon-
trollable laughter, used infan-
tile vocabularies or logic (e.g.
I shouldn’t talk to him because
he is scary), and performed
infantile gestures (e.g. sticking
her lips out to indicate she is
not satisfied). All these seem-
ingly childlike behaviors dilute
her aggressiveness and allow
her to freely insult people.
She breaks down the realm
of private and professional
by using aegyo, and brings
people who were in her public
realm into her (imaginary)
private circle.
Another example shows
a case when aegyo did not
work, as the one trying to
use aegyo was not sensi-
tive enough to her social
surroundings. A girl, aged
twenty two, who often uses
aegyo in the office environ-
ment and her personal life,
tried to use aegyo to her boss.
examples of cutified and infantilized
I m a g e sP
, olitics f t tA
f r o m L e of R i g h t9
o egyo : Egg
Feelings, Charlotte Mei, 2015, www.
instagram . com / p /6 kdq D q A sx G; K im
Woobin, Monkey3 Star Morning Call
- aegyo ver, 2013; Lip-tint, mirukeu-
senpai , 2015, mirukeu - senpai . tumblr .
com; And God Created Woman,
US H a r p e r ’ s B a z a a r , 2010, w w w .
harpersbazaar . com , P uss in B oots ,
Shrek, PDI/Dreamworks, 2001
She complimented her boss
(her eyes wide open, blinking
too frequently), that he looks
“dandy.” He did not under-
stand the word so he asked
her to repeat it. She under-
stood it as him wanting to
hear her compliment him
once more. She laughed
and touched his shoulder
and said, “Oh, so you want
to hear it once more?” He
politely replied that he didn’t
understand the word. She
explained what “dandy” meant
and laughed frivolously, but
then was immediately baffled
because he did not show the
expected response. He then
replied that he thought she
is overreacting. He seemed
truly puzzled by her remark.
She was visibly embarrassed,
stopped laughing and every-
thing got awkward.
10 Politics of Aegyo
CONCLUSION
    IN SUMMARY                            t have aegyo .” Over past several months, we couldn’t
OUR FINDINGS
1. AEGYO IN DIFFERENT
CULTURES
Most of the survey
responders and interviewees
acknowledged the existence
of female performance of
cuteness in other parts
of the world, confirming
that winsomeness is not a
unique cultural phenomenon
to Korean society. Many
responders answered that
foreigners could easily identify
with aegyo , or that there was
aegyo in foreign countries as
well. We discovered aegyo is
a phenomenon comparable
to Chinese, Japanese
and broader phenomena
of cutified and charming
behaviors. Interestingly, while
acknowledging the presence
of similar winsomeness
in other cultures, many of
interviewees still believed that
the specificity of aegyo and
its position in Korean culture.
2. WHAT MAKES AEGYO
KOREAN
Many failed to identify
aegyo in non-Korean context,
for instance having a hard
time depicting or defining it in
foreign languages. During the
surveys and interviews, aegyo
was often characterized by
its style of speech, something
that cannot be easily
translated or fathomed in
other languages. Infantilization
of female sexuality is also
a characteristic most vividly
displayed in aegyo , possibly
leading people to differentiate
aegyo from performed
corporeal cuteness in other
cultures, such as amae
in which sexuality is not
consciously expressed. The
specificity of aegyo is further
supported by responses from
people who understood it
in relation to Korea’s other
culturally specific concepts,
in this case mainly nunchi
and chemyon , and others.
Nunchi confines aegyo to the
boundaries of established
cultural values and does not
permit aegyo to be genuinely
infantile in nature, while
saving one’s social face, or
chemyon , is the ultimate goal
to be achieved by performing
aegyo . Aegyo is, therefore,
entangled with other Korean
cultural concepts and can be
understood as exclusively
Korean.
3. IMPLICATIONS ON THE
POSITIONALITY OF WOMEN
Most important part of
the research is certainly the
“politics” of aegyo and the
position of this phenomenon
in the lives of Korean women,
and more indirectly, men.
Most agreed aegyo is “good”
for women, and is frequently
expected from young
women in various types of
communities as a womanly
virtue. As aegyo is mostly
expected from younger people
or people of lower social
positions, such expectations
for women as well relegate
women to the position unequal
to for whom the aegyo is
performed.
At the same time, aegyo is,
paradoxically, also considered
to be an expression of female
playfulness and free choice.
Comments and responses
generally viewed aegyo
as voluntary enactment on
women’s part, claiming that
it facilitates uncomfortable
situations, which is in stark
contrast to the request for
aegyo to be “genuine”. There
were few responses that
addressed the uncomfortable
compromises women are
forced to take when they
perform aegyo , and instead
many focused on the positive
feedbacks of aegyo or
pleasurable experience of
receiving or being exposed
to aegyo . This brings us to
the question of paradox of
female agency and “free”
choice with regards to aegyo
of South Korea. It is important
to see how this all-pervading
practice of self-infantilization
affects what people imagine
as “Korean women,” or any
idealized female image that
is being propagated in the
society of unequal power
distribution.
Politics of Aegyo 11
LAST COMMENT When we first decided to start a research on aegyo ,
we encountered a range of reactions, mostly disbelief.
Many thought it was ridiculous, thinking aegyo was not
serious enough to be studied, not to mention our seeming
ineligibility to understand such subject since we “just don’
master the art of winsomeness, unfortunately. However,
we were able to analyze it through more than one
dimension, adding depth to the concept that was often
disregarded despite its strong influence over everyday
lives of Koreans. We now know aegyo is not a mere
social skill or some popular trend but a reflection on South
Korea’s landscape of power imbalance between gender,
age and social status. We truly hope that our research
contributed to the understanding of Korean culture and
possibly other similar social phenomena of different areas
in the world.
The project allowed us to take initial steps to conduct
real academic research, and we are grateful that UIC
gave us the opportunity. We also learned about each
other as friends and as research partners. Sometimes it
was harder than we imagined, but in the end we do not
regret participating in the project as a team.
We thank Professor Puzar who always helped us
throughout the entire process of research. We believe
that without him the paper would have been half-cooked,
missing many crucial parts. We also thank Professor Yu,
who patiently guided us through the formats and rules
of the research, and all the other professors and faculty
members who made our research possible.
Lastly we thank every interlocutor and survey
participant who helped us build our precious sets of data.
We were able to earn great insight to the topic through
survey responses and personal accounts from our friends,
Lookbook, Hottiewood, 2016 family members, and people unknown to us, stretching
shophottiewood.com way beyond student population and beyond circle of
friends and acquaintances.
ABOUT AUTHORS Yewon Hong
Yonsei University
Underwood International College
Comparative Literature and
Culture, Class of 12
dalihong@naver.com
010-8847-4823
Sehee Eom
Yonsei University
Underwood International College
Political Science and International
Relations, Class of 12
jbnd12@gmail.com
010-5317-6769