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This paper explores the strategic use of 1ST person substitutional expressions in the Korean language. In English and other Indo-European languages pronouns are used to substitute nouns and refer to those participating or referred to in the discourse, however the 1st person substitutional expressions in Korean are used to substitute pronouns. In Korean where null pronoun is the norm, using pronouns or substitutional expressions is considered a strategic use to convey the speaker’s message. This paper explores different patterns of substitutional expressions and identifies the aim of such usage, through analyzing different situations of speakers and listeners with different age, gender and social status, focusing on Politeness as a major characteristic of the Korean society. This topic is rarely discussed in Korean linguistics due to the view that it is limited only to situations where children’s language is used, however, the findings of this research have proved otherwise.