Garnering exponential attention in mainstream media, the Kkaennip Controversy has become a debate defining Korean pop culture. Originating from a viral internet feud, the Kkaennip Controversy presents a hypothetical situation where you are out eating with your date and your friend, and you see your friend struggling to separate a kkaennip - a popular Korean side dish. Kkaennip is essentially pickled perilla leaves, with it being very difficult to separate one from another. At this moment, your date lifts their chopsticks and helps your friend out. Are you one to feel mad or disappointed at this gesture? For the May issue of The Granite Tower (GT), GT interviewed four Korea University (KU) students with hot takes on this question.

Kim Yangwoo ('22, Economics)

I am fond of the idea of my date being so attentive as to help my friend in need of help. At face value, the act of assisting a person struggling to separate a kkaennip is a random act of kindness! As someone who sets high moral standards for friends, I also hold my significant other to the same standards. I deem manners and politeness as very valuable features to a healthy relationship. Therefore, I believe this attitude does not and should not be limited to me specifically. I would be glad to see my date extend their attention and care to my friend because that shows what kind of person my partner is. Thus, her act of kindness, having the potential to loosen up the rigid atmosphere, is something I would think highly of.

Park Heewon ('21, International Studies)

I cannot fathom how concentrated and focused my boyfriend would have been on my friend for him to get his chopstick on that kkaennip before I do. I am known to be a very attentive and observant person – up to the point where it is borderline invasive – that it would be very suspicious of my boyfriend to take note of something before I do. I heard a neurologist speak on this issue on a television program and it simply aggravated my potential doubts. The expert went on to reason that separating my friend’s kkaennip cannot be an instinctive action on my date’s behalf. According to neuroscience, it takes a long time for the brain to send a message for the body to pick up and use a pair of chopsticks in the way one desires to. I would rather have him focusing on me or what he has on his plate than him paying unmeasurable times more attention to my friend.

Lim Gun ('20, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering)

Having seen the same episode, I would like to highlight what the show’s host said right after the neuroscientist’s comment. As social animals, helping each other out is very natural and instinctive for us. Even if this may be a generalization, I would like to hope that my girlfriend is someone whom taking care of others comes naturally to. Frankly, I would have been taken more aback if my girlfriend did not help my friend in that situation. In that case, I would have interpreted her actions as intentionally ignoring someone in need of her assistance. In her perspective, I would expect her to think she is demonstrating her emphatic, polite mannerisms to me, instead of trying to make me mad or jealous.

Yoon Jiseung ('21, Psychology)

It leaves me dumbfounded how people can get so angry over a kkaennip. From the moment this issue became viral to the present, where I have well-educated myself regarding opposing views, I simply cannot find a reason for there to be any fuss over a kkaennip. It is not as if my date is kissing the kkaennip ever-so tenderly or acting as an outright fox. Even if my date was trying to send a signal through that kkaennip to my friend, my anger regarding this incident would not prevent him from cheating on me or betraying me in the future. In my perspective, you must let things be in a relationship