[OPINION] In Defense of YongSeo Shippers
If you’re a fan of Seohyun, then you know the impact made by her time spent on We Got Married. The couple made up of Jung Yonghwa and Seo Joo Hyun, most commonly known as YongSeo, has gained a legion of fans in Korea and around the world. But are the fans of this couple actually doing Seohyun a disservice as an individual? I don’t think so.
I have been meaning to write about this topic for quite some time, but what really sparked this opinion were a few tweets by popular SONE fansite & photographer ihope9.
It started off with a bit of anger over what sounded like a harmless edit by YongSeo shippers.
Then after surely receiving backlash, ihope9 softened its position but remained firm in its opposition of the YongSeo couple.
I don’t post these tweets to attack this fansite, but to open up a discussion.ย It is true that YongSeo shippers, like ALL shippers of fictitious couples, can go to the extreme. But are the actions of a few enough to take such an adamant stance against the couple?
First, the most important question. How has Seohyun benefited from being a part of We Got Married? Seohyun has always been the wonderful person she is today, but she closed herself off to the public. Fans of SNSD didn’t have much to say about her because there wasn’t much to say. How could they since she didn’t talk much even when she was the focus on an SNSD reality or variety appearance? Honestly, she was overshadowed and I feel that she was comfortable letting her unnies take the spotlight. Today, Seohyun has a very dedicated following. People who got to see her silly and playful sides fell in love. Her romantic side would have probably never been revealed if she hadn’t interacted with Yonghwa. She wasn’t just the perfect, untouchable maknae. We got to see her make mistakes and laugh about them. We saw her get angry and be stubborn. There was nowhere for Seohyun to hide as the show was focused on only two people.
How has SNSD benefited from Seohyun’s time on the show? There is not a day that goes by that I don’t hear about a fan being attracted to Seohyun & SNSD because of WGM. The group as a whole has benefited from the emotional attachment of fans as a result of that show. YongSeo fans don’t ONLY support Seohyun. They will almost always post group activities, links to purchase albums and the like. And I have NEVER seen a fan of the couple bash any member of SNSD.
So how do you think people like ihope9 come to the conclusion that YongSeo shippers are detrimental to our maknae? It is true that YS shippers go crazy over every little detail. When both Yong & Hyun wear a red shirt, it is front page news. They attend concertsย decked out inย YongSeo gear. Some don’t even like it when any member of the opposite sex approaches one of the 2. Comment sections on Youtube are filled with random comments about Yonghwa when a video may have nothing to do with him. Some shippers do go all out.
However, I still don’t see how Seohyun should “NEVER” be connected to Yonghwa. The majority of the response has been positive. Some of the excitement can get annoying, but is mostly harmless. Seohyun has gained fans from all age groups because of the show. She’s gotten an endorsement deal with The Face Shop. She was one of the least popular members of SNSD and now she’s all over the place. How can we as fans of Seohyun be mad at that?
I am a fan of Seo Joo Hyun and her time on We Got Married. I would have never taken the chance to really get to know the girls of SNSD if it hadn’t been for the show, and look at me now. I am a dedicated fan of this girl! It wasn’t just the fact that she was with Yonghwa. I fell in love with Seohyun, the person. It would be insecure of me to imply that Seohyun has only gotten fans for being connected to Yonghwa. They’ve both benefited immensely. To simply ignore all the growth Seohyun has gone through because of the show would be silly.
YongSeo shippers, remain respectful and keep the ship sailing!
Posted on March 23, 2012, in Opinion and tagged seohyun, snsd, YongSeo. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
Forever Seomate 
well said!
Thank you. “They” should read this.
what a very great opinion, thank you friend for understanding what YS fans / GOGUMAS feel, we hope a day will come that all people who are against us will know that we really love and support this couple, together and individually, we always pray that all the dreams and ambitions of YONGSEO will really come true when the right time comes, GOD BLESS
Thank you so much. You wrote the words out of my mouth. Honestly, I feel so choked up. Supers on the left, hardcore Seomates on the right. I feel like…Gogumas has no place anymore. If only THEY knew how we support SNSD and CNBLUE. D: Thank you so much for this. My sadness has been lifted a bit. And yes, we will continue to be respectful and keep the Yongseo ship sailing!!!
im gonna cry..
thank you for understanding us as goguma T___T
we love seohyun and her unnie so much but we are being underrate just bec we love yongseo
thank you..
I hope SUPERS, BOICES, SONES (Seomates), …and GOGUMAS, as well, will read this.
Yes. Especially those gogumas (yongseo fans) who go overboard and mention yongseo every article, every video, basically, everything yonghwa and seohyun is directly or indirectly involved.
I am grateful for ‘LEVEL-HEADED’ fans like you. Fans who have open minds and unselfish behaviors. Thank you so much for writing this. ^^
very well said! i hate those hamburgers who do nothing but to pull someone on top of them!! yeah~ you’re right, just KEEP THE SHIP SAILING, don’t mind the waves that comes in our way…
Back then, i watched wgm as one of cnblue fans but because of this show i became seohyun fan too. I fall in love with seohyun’s personality and talent. Because of this show too, i know more about SNDS and admire their team wok and sisterhood. No matter what kind of arguments going on about yongseo couple..i’ll forever thankful to wgm for “match making” this two wonderful people, yonghwa+seohyun =) I hope, as a yongseo fans, we will keep supporting seohyun (and yonghwa) in every individual projects just like what we all do now and remain respectful.
I couldnโt agree more! I started getting interested in SNSD and K-pop through my daughter, 15 years old, who is a dancer. She enjoyed SNSDโs music and dance routines and would often listen to their music and dance to their choreography in her room.
When I had heard that one of the SNSD girls was going to be in a variety show where she would be teamed with a male and they would act out being married, I was intrigued.
To be honest, I didnโt know who Seohyun was โ I knew she was one of the 9 girls in SNSD. I knew she was the youngest โ the maknae.
When I started watching the YongSeo WGM shows, I was instantly overcome by the feeling of โyoung loveโ or โfirst loveโ that Yong Hwa and Seohyun displayed on the show. Their sweet caring and concern for each other, their discovery of working through the ups and downs of a relationship was both refreshing and endearing.
You have to realize I am a 45-year-old American male and my daughter is now 17. This has been an amazing, confounding and sometimes disturbing journey for both of us. Neither of us would have thought before YongSeo that we would be hopelessly engrossed by these 2 young Korean stars โ but we are!
WGM helped define who Seohyun was to me and my daughter. Her innocence, beauty, intelligence, strong will and hard work ethic impressed us both. During her time on WGM we watched as she transformed from a shy, awkward girl into a confident, beautiful young lady. She literally seemed to grow up while she was on that show, and she continues to amaze us each day since the show has ended. How much of that was attributable to Yong Hwaโs attentions, I donโt know. But it seemed like she stepped out from behind her unnies in SNSD and was allowed to step into the light and show her unique personality to all who watched WGM.
I didnโt know who Yong Hwa or CN Blue was at all. WGM helped define him and CN Blue to my daughter and me also. Through WGM we got to see him and his bandmateโs different personalities in everyday situations. We discovered thst he was an amzing talented musician and actor (You’re Beautiful and Heartstrings) and that CN Blue was a talented band and all of the members were amzing young men in their own right.
It was through a twist of fate that Seohyun and Yong Hwa were thrown together on WGM. Neither one chose a particular person to be joined with on the show. But as it turned out, I donโt think a better match could have been found for Seohyun. Yongโs caring, patience and playful manner helped her to discover and experience what a relationship with a boy/man could be. That was her goal for joining WGM, and Yong Hwa accomplished that goal flawlessly.
For Seohyun, Yong Hwa, CN Blue and the SNSD unnies who got to share time with Seohyun and Yong Hwa on WGM, viewers of WGM got to see a side of their personalities outside of their appearances in concerts and variety shows. They became real people, not idols.
For everyone concerned in WGM during the time YongSeo were together, it was beneficial for all. Both as exposure for their careers, but mostly for both Seohyun and Yong Hwa. I feel they both learned a lot about what it takes to build a caring, loving relationship.
Scripted? โ not at all! They were put in situations by the WGM staff, but their reactions to those situations were real. Quite a few of the idols who have been on the show in past and current seasons have commented on how WGM is not scripted and it is very easy to develop true feelings with their partners during the time the couples spend together on the show.
Would Yong Wha write songs for Seohyun, would Seohyun spend hours knitting scarves for Yong Wha as part of a script? There are many things this couple did above and beyond what would be required to film a reality show. They really did show that they cared for each other inside and outside the requirements of the show.
And the amazing thing is โ there are so many of us who love them! Whether Sone, Boice, Seomate or Goguma/YongSeo shipper, the bottom line is we support Seohyun and SNSD, Yong Wha and CN Blue and wish them the best in all of their endeavors. We wish that they are happy and will achieve their dreams.
All of this contention between these groups is silly and needs to stop. These 2 young people donโt belong to any one fan group, but to all of us. We should enjoy their individual brilliance together and stop worrying about which group has the most loyal fans. We are all interested only in their happiness and well-being.
I donโt presume to know what their relationship is now. I hope at least they are still close friends, even though their extremely busy schedules probably donโt give them any time to develop any kind of relationship with boyfriends/girlfriends at all. I fully realize that there is a very good chance they may end up with different partners later in life.
But I do know I will support them and continue to love them forever โ and it is all because of their time on WGM! And I am grateful that I was able to share their beautiful, happy time together.
I couldn’t agree more. thank you very much. us gogumas has been beat and battered by some fans because we look into the tiniest of details. we are happy. but one thing that Seohyun has taught us is to always be respectful. we are happy the way we are, but we never bash others. even the anit fans of YongSeo, the so-called “hamburgers” that would almost always rain on our YongSeo parade; and fans of Yonghwa’s other pairings, that always has something bad to say about gogumas.
YongSeo couple’s stint in WGM may be over, but our love for the individuals that make up “YongSeo”, Yonghwa and Seohyun will never change. both components of YongSeo and their respective groups SNSD and CNBlue, will always have our support, WGM has become the starting point for us to love SNSD and CNBlue. I would never have met people around the world that shares the same interest through this wonderful fandom.
lessons learned by Seohyun and Yonghwa are also lessons for all people regardless of age and gender. and I am extremely thankful for YongSeo couple for introducing a new world to me, opening my eyes to other things, and to you lvsanchez115, for defending Gogumas. we really appreciate it.
(apologize for not a proper English)
i couldn’t agree more, me as a SONE, Boice and Goguma, had a very hard time judging and to support any of them..
i am a SONE after their debut, and a Boice after You Are Beautiful, and a Goguma when i heard they will be paired up together, i love them all not just YongSeo couple but also SNSD and CNBlue…
as we know, being an idol in korean industry, they did not escape from any shipping,
Yonghwa + A, Yonghwa + B, Yonghwa + C, ……Yonghwa + Seohyun
Seohyun + A, Seohyun + B, Seohyun + C, ……Seohyun + Yonghwa
but, what i really disappointed are, people who shipping Yonghwa with A, or B, or C always said mean thing about Seohyun (seohyun ugly, pig, i hate seohyun, seobot, slut, suck, jerk,…. etc) in any discussion site and forum.
and a Boice who don’t like their precious Yonghwa to be paired with Seohyun and also shipping him with someone (Shinhye, etc.) also said a mean thing to seohyun until wish her to die…
as a Boice, when i read about CNBlue or CNBlue site, i always hope that the minority or maybe majority of them open minded about them, if you love your idol please make them happy not wish them sad or want to own your idol..like “oppa you are mine, seohyun you die” <— yeah, i always see this!!! it made me sad…
as a Sone, when i read about SNSD or SNSD site, mostly they didn't really care about Yonghwa, most of them wish Seohyun happiness whether the person is Yonghwa, Kyuhyun, jinwoon, Minho, etc. etc…(yeah, i always see a lot of Seohyun and ??? shipper)
and lastly as a goguma, i hope that we are not too delusional about our lovely pairing, be humble and not too over react, because people might hate our Yong or Seo individually,
and for Ihope9 : i know what you mean, you love the girl dearly and you snap a photo of our lovely SNSD (Seohyun) to be shared with fellow sone or seomate, but your picture always get edited to these WGM pairing…
to the author : maybe you are start to know them as a YongSeo in WGM, you have your own opinion about things that you know, but as others like Sone-not-Goguma or Boice-not-Goguma, they are also have their own.. hope that Goguma respect them for not posting anything not necessary in their site…if we want to protect YongSeo, so don't over doing
Peace.
Thank you so much for this! :””””)
Haters gonna Hate..YongSeo Everlasting..
เธฑYongseo so beautiful belover., so they’re my destiny ,real couple.,haters’ve gone and individaual in your cornor>>>>>we’ve love YONGSEO FOREVER
completely agree with you! and i’ll be a respectful yongseo shipper ^^
Yeah your right about every word !! Before WGM I used to be only a Boice but now, thanks to WGM, I’m a BOICE/SONE !! There’s some stupid people who say that Yonghwa is only taking advantage of Seohyun to be more famous… Oh pul-lease, Yonghwa has a lot of things that can make people fall head over heels for him. He is talented I mean super talented, adorable personality, handsome, modest… he is great. The same goes for Seohyun, before WGM, she was just the maknae of SNSD no more no less because she was mysterious and overshadowed, now after WGM, a lot of people get to know how gorgeous and awesome she is and I’m one of these people. I love Seohyun because she has an angelic voice, so polite, so pure, so caring and beautiful !! Those haters have to ask themselves why Yongseo shippers still support Yongseo extremely!! They just have to watch SNSD’s interviews when Yonghwa is mentionned…
Anyways, you are great, chingu! Every single seomate has to read this article. Thanks for defending us goguma shippers hehe
I heart this post <3. I like how you are voicing out your opinion in neutral ground and try to look from both side.
Me, myself, as a seomate sometimes feel sad why "some" sone just don't like Seohyun in WGM. Hey that's the only show where we can see Seobaby without her unnie-deul and can see her true self. Not all of her true self, but at least we can see how Seohyun is in her real life.
Don't like, can't like, or hate the coupling that's fine. But what I can't stand is when there's someone who bash either Seohyun, Yonghwa, or both. Whether they are sone, boice, or goguma. Just like you said, sometimes shipper can be overboard. But well, that's what shipper is like right. Kekeke.
Nuff said. I just like this post. Thank you for writing this ๐
Keep the pink and blue love โค
i love YONGSEO and im a SONE and BOICE .
i hope people can think positively about them and if you is a real fan , you will always support them . btw , thanks for writing this and .. hamburgers , u should read this . thankssss .
WGM helped Seohyun immensely, I agree. But some overboard Yongseo fans can make her feel uncomfortable. How about bringing pictures of her kissing a boy and holding a baby with a boy feel like in concerts? How about fans tweeting her picture everyday to CNBLUE twitter account and God knows how many people have access to that twitter account ( would have been acceptable if it was Yonghwa’s personal twitter but it is a joint account with all members ) or fan edited art work of her wearing provocative outfit and sitting on the lap of a boy. Seohyun is Seohyun, imagine how uncomfortable she might have been. I’m sure both Yonghwa and Seohyun very well know how their every move are being watched by these shippers hence, total discomfort and lack of interaction when they are on the same event (But of course Yongseo shippers will rather think that it’s a sign of them secretly dating). And all these delusional stuff and fan edited artworks are posted all over the internet for everyone to see, fan or non-fans. I won’t discredit the fans who rightfully support them but I tell you a lot of them are doing this shipping thing overboard already. Both artists are great in their own way, but people should stop tying them to that show.
P.S. I think ihope9 has all the right to disallow people to use her pictures of Seohyun for purposes of shipping. These pictures are her PROPERTY after all and she has all the right to protect it from unwanted use.
Honestly, I personally don’t agree with methods such as fanboards and tweet spamming and the like. I think shipping should be done amongst fans. However, I would make the argument that the two have benefited so much from the good reputation they received from the show, that some of it comes with the territory. But in my experience, YongSeo fans aren’t usually that extreme. About the fanart… really, look at any fandom. YongSeo edits have been the LEAST graphic that I’ve seen. As long as they use official photos and keep it clean… I can’t really say I have anything against it.
Also, remember that Seohyun herself has mentioned seeing YongSeo fansigns and just being surprised that people abroad even watched it, rather than feeling burdened. I think when faced with shippers in real life, any celebrity can become uncomfortable, but I don’t think it has gotten to that point like the way it has with shippers that ship couples within the same group.
This article had nothing to do with whether ihope9 had the right to tell shippers or anyone what to do with her photos. I really can’t argue with that fact. I was really arguing with that tough stance a lot of Seomates seem to be taking against any fans of the couple and questioning it.
Thanks for leaving your opinion, it was good to read something from a non-shipper.
Im a seomate and yeah im so protective over my idol.I love her so much.
If seomates hates yongseo it’s because they don’t want their idol to be bashed by other shippers.For me i love seohyun and i loved her in wgm too..but i can’t stand it when other shippers bash her because of yongseo. So i hated it.But when we think about it,,because of wgm more ppl will like seohyun and yonghwa ,it’s good for both of them. Cn blue and snsd will get more fans.Lovers gonn’a love and haters gonn’a hate,,well i’m not going to ship anybody!
And i can understand why ihop9 said like that..
hyoyeon is now my bias because of her personality in wgm she was really funny and outgoing and helped seo the most so that’s a proof that snsd as a whole benefited from wgm
Hyoyeon is my second bias because of her appearance on WGM ๐