7 pet names Korean couples actually use (자기야, 여보 and more)
The first thing a Korean couple negotiates is not where to eat but what to call each other, because Korean avoids plain names between people who are close. Partners who have been together a year may almost never say each other's name out loud.
The seven below are the ones you actually hear, roughly in order from early dating to marriage. They are all casual speech (반말), which is itself part of their meaning: using one tells everyone in earshot that you two have dropped the polite forms.
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자기야
jagiya
Babe, honey
Literally: Self (vocative)
The default pet name for a couple, used by both partners from fairly early in a relationship. 자기 means 'oneself', which is the point: you are part of me. Without the -야 it also works as 'you' inside a sentence, as in 자기 뭐 해? (what are you up to, babe?).
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여보
yeobo
Honey, dear
What married couples call each other, and almost only them. A dating couple using it is either joking or dropping a very large hint. Older couples often keep it for decades after their own names have faded out of daily use.
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오빠
oppa
Oppa
Literally: Older brother
What a woman calls an older boyfriend, and also what she calls her actual older brother and older male friends. The romance is in the tone, not the word. A man does not use it, and a woman calling a younger boyfriend 오빠 is a running joke in dramas.
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애기야
aegiya
Baby
Literally: Baby (vocative)
애기 is the spoken form of 아기 (baby). Sweeter and more recent than 자기야, common among younger couples, and in texts it becomes 우리 애기 (our baby). Some people find it cloying, so read the room.
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공주님
gongjunim
Princess
Half teasing, usually a boyfriend to a girlfriend and often as 우리 공주님 (our princess). The honorific -님 is what makes it playful. 왕자님 (prince) exists but is mostly used ironically.
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내 사랑
nae sarang
My love
More written than spoken: photo captions, anniversary messages, song lyrics and drama lines. Said out loud at dinner it sounds like a declaration, so people save it for the moments that call for one.
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귀요미
gwiyomi
Cutie
From 귀엽다 (to be cute). Light and gender neutral, also used for pets, children and group members, so it reads as fond rather than romantic unless the rest of the message makes it so.
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Two things carry across all of them. 우리 (our) in front of a pet name, as in 우리 자기, 우리 애기, makes it warmer rather than possessive, and the suffix -야 turns almost any noun into something you can call someone. The switch from 자기야 to 여보 is still, for most people, the day they get married.