Can Korea's 'text-hip' reading craze outlive the hashtag?

Korea Herald

17-07-2025

As reading habits evolve alongside technology and lifestyle shifts, South Korea's 'text hip' moment may be less about returning to old routines and more about inventing new ways to engage with books
When Gim Ji-min arrived at the Seoul International Book Fair 2025 in June, she thought the buzz on social media was exaggerated.
'I honestly assumed people were just hyping it up on Instagram,' said the 26-year-old sociology Ph.D. student. 'But the moment I stepped inside, I knew this was different. Every trendy book-themed tote bag, keychain, and bookmark had already sold out.'
She wasn't alone in her surprise. Over five days, more than 150,000 people packed Seoul's Coex convention center. Tickets sold out weeks in advance, prompting official apologies from organizers. Rumors spread of scalpers reselling passes for triple the original price. Most attendees were women in their 20s and 30s, snapping photos of minimalist book covers and whimsical literary merchandise.
Gim doesn't see herself in the stereotype of a 'heavy' reader. 'I read a lot, especially nonfiction and social science, but I borrow more than I buy," she said. But the "festival-like mood" of the book fair reignited her interest in actually purchasing one.
At the center of the frenzy is a Korean trend called "text hip." The phrase refers to the idea that reading is not just enriching or productive, but stylish, trendy and socially shareable. After American model Kaia Gerber said in an early 2024 interview with The Guardian that 'reading is so sexy,' the expression took off globally, including Korea.
By the time Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature in October, the phrase text hip had already become a recognizable trend among younger readers and across reading communities.
But does this enthusiasm reflect a return to reading in South Korea? Or is it just another lifestyle craze, more about looking literary than actually reading?
What the numbers say
According to the country's authoritative biannual National Reading Survey, the data complicates the common notion that Koreans don't read. In fact, it suggests that people in their 20s and 30s have long maintained relatively high reading rates. It helps explain the strong turnout for events like the book fair.
The most recent 2023 report showed 74.5 percent of Koreans in their 20s had read at least one book (excluding textbooks) over the previous year. While this was still the highest rate among all age groups, it also represented a steep decline from 91.1 percent recorded eight years earlier. The number of physical books young Koreans consume annually fell sharply during that same period, dropping from an average of 11.4 books per person to just 2.5 books.
What prevented the numbers from plunging even further was the rise of digital reading; e-book consumption among Koreans in their 20s more than doubled in the same span.
Yet even with this increase, the overall reading trend confirms that even younger Koreans today are reading far fewer books than before.
Still, that doesn't mean they aren't engaging with books at all.
Kim Nam-young, who is part of the National Reading Survey team at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told The Korea Herald that the survey only captures part of the picture.
'To survey reading rates, we only count completed books,' she explained. 'But what we're missing are all the new ways people are interacting with books now. While this isn't unique to Korea, it does mean we're probably underestimating how many people are actively participating in reading culture."
"At some point, we may need to rethink how we define reading altogether.'
Yoo Ji-eun, a 29-year-old project manager in Seoul, considers herself part of the 'text hip' generation. But she rarely reads books cover to cover.
In April, she joined Hip Dok Club, a new reading initiative launched by Seoul Outdoor Library. The name combines 'hip' and 'reading,' and the concept struck a chord. All 10,000 membership slots filled in under two hours, with the website initially overwhelmed by traffic.
Hip Dok Club rewards a wide range of book-related activities, from logging titles and posting quotes to sharing handwritten excerpts. Members earn points, level up, and receive exclusive items like reading lights and limited-edition merchandise. It functions less like a book club and more like a literary social platform.
An outdoor club-exclusive discussion with novelist Park Sang-young, author of "Love in the Big City," drew hundreds. Yoo attended that talk and said the experience rekindled her interest in Park's novel, even though she hadn't finished it the first time.
'It felt like a music festival,' she said. 'People were there not just to read, but to experience books together.'
Will Korea's 20-somethings still read in their 40s?
To skeptics, 'text hip' and the craze over events like this might look like style over substance. But Baek Won-geun, former research head of the National Reading Survey and now director at the Book and Society Research Institute, isn't so quick to dismiss it.
'Sure, it's easy to roll your eyes,' Baek said. 'But if buying book-related merchandise, joining clubs or posting literary quotes eventually draws someone deeper into reading, then the trend serves its purpose.'
Baek's larger concern is South Korea's steep decline in reading among older adults. While other countries experience a gradual decline, in South Korea reading drops dramatically as people age. Only 36.9 percent of Koreans in their 50s read even one book in the past year, and for those 60 and older, the figure plunges to just 15.7 percent.
'The challenge is building lasting habits,' Baek explained. 'The million-dollar question I'm interested in is this: whether young people will sustain their interest in reading, or text hip as they call it, even as life becomes busier and responsibilities increase.'
"Reading has long been treated as something we outgrow once school ends. But if text hip helps people see books as part of adult life, not just academic life, then the habit can survive the busyness. Not necessarily because we are trying to be readers in the traditional sense, but because books can become part of how we live," said Gim Ji-min.