Yookyung

Who Is Yookyung?

Yookyung, born Hong Yu-kyung on September 22, 1994, in Seoul, South Korea, was one of the original seven members of the K-pop girl group Apink, serving as its main rapper and vocalist during the group’s debut era. Though her time as an idol was brief, Yookyung holds a special place in Apink’s history as the fifth trainee revealed ahead of the group’s 2011 debut and the member who trained the longest before ever stepping on stage.

Trainee Years and Debut with Apink

Yookyung was introduced to the public through an online video of her playing the piano, ahead of Apink’s formation under A Cube Entertainment. She trained longer than any of her future groupmates, and the company reportedly pushed her toward singing even though she felt more confident as a dancer. On April 19, 2011, she debuted as part of Apink’s original seven-member lineup with the mini album Seven Springs of Apink, taking on the roles of main rapper and vocalist. She attended the School of Performing Arts Seoul alongside members Naeun, Namjoo, and Hayoung, and was known for her fluency in both English and French in addition to Korean, along with a talent for piano and violin.

Departure from Apink

Yookyung’s final comeback with the group was for Apink’s debut studio album Une Année, released in May 2012. On April 23, 2013, A Cube Entertainment (now IST Entertainment) announced that she would be leaving Apink to focus on her studies, and the group continued forward as a six-member act. Her father later suggested publicly that the departure had been more sudden and less voluntary than officially described, a claim that stirred some controversy among fans at the time.

Life After Apink

After leaving the spotlight, Yookyung completed a theater degree at Chung-Ang University in 2018 and later graduated from the ESMOD Seoul fashion institute in 2021, channeling her creative interests into fashion design and modeling. In interviews since her departure, she has said that her passion for singing never fully faded and that she would welcome the chance to reconnect with the idol world, even hinting she still hopes to appear alongside Apink again someday. She has remained on good terms with her former groupmates, occasionally reuniting with them, and has been open about the emotional difficulty of leaving a group she had trained so long to join.

Marriage and Current Life

On October 12, 2023, Yookyung announced that she would marry her non-celebrity partner two days later, on October 14, 2023. As of recent updates, she continues to work in fashion and modeling, keeps an active but low-key presence on social media, and enjoys hobbies like solving Sudoku puzzles and golf in her personal time.