Junkyu

Junkyu's full name is Kim Junkyu (김준규), and he was born on September 9, 2000, in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. His entertainment career began years before TREASURE because he was already working in front of cameras as a child.

• Junkyu worked as a child model before becoming a K-pop trainee. He appeared in advertisements and promotional shoots when he was young, giving him professional camera experience long before he ever stepped onto an idol stage.

• Despite being comfortable enough to model as a child, Junkyu later became known for being surprisingly shy and introverted. The contrast between his early modeling photographs and his homebody personality has become one of the amusing details of his background.

• He trained under YG Entertainment for several years before debuting. Junkyu belonged to the generation of YG trainees who spent a significant amount of time waiting for the company's next boy group after WINNER and iKON.

• Junkyu competed on MIXNINE in 2017 alongside future TREASURE leader Hyunsuk. The survival show gave him his first major exposure as a YG trainee, although he did not earn a place in its planned debut group.

• His MIXNINE experience was emotionally difficult at times. Junkyu struggled with confidence during the competition, making his later return to another survival show particularly significant.

• Instead of giving up after MIXNINE, he returned to competition through YG Treasure Box in 2018. By then, viewers were able to see a more developed performer who had already experienced both public evaluation and elimination.

• Junkyu became one of the members selected for the original seven-member TREASURE lineup. Unlike several current members who were initially assigned to MAGNUM, Junkyu was chosen for the first group announced following YG Treasure Box.

• His voice is one of TREASURE's easiest to recognize. Junkyu has a bright, slightly nasal vocal color that remains distinctive even when multiple members are singing similar melodic sections.

• Junkyu's facial expression when he smiles has been compared to a koala, and the animal became strongly associated with him among fans. His TREASURE character and fan imagery frequently lean into his soft, round-cheeked appearance.

• He is famously a homebody. Junkyu has repeatedly shown that he is perfectly happy spending large amounts of free time indoors rather than constantly searching for activities outside the dorm or hotel.

• Sleeping is one of Junkyu's favorite ways to spend downtime, which fits his generally relaxed offstage personality. TREASURE content frequently jokes about his love of resting and his ability to become comfortable almost anywhere.

• His room and personal space have occasionally become part of the joke surrounding his homebody lifestyle. Junkyu tends to prioritize comfort over maintaining the picture-perfect environment people might expect from someone who once worked as a model. • Junkyu has a distinctive style of humor that can be surprisingly strange. Rather than always trying to deliver obvious punchlines, he often makes unusual sounds, facial expressions or comments that become funny because the other members don't know how to respond. • He is known for creating memorable facial expressions and reactions. His expressive face helped make him popular during YG Treasure Box and remains a major part of his charm in TREASURE's variety content. • Junkyu's artistic development changed significantly after debut when he began participating more heavily in songwriting and composition. Instead of remaining solely a vocalist, he gradually started showing fans music that reflected his own tastes and ideas.

• "MOVE" became one of the clearest demonstrations of Junkyu's abilities as a songwriter and composer. Released by TREASURE's five-member unit T5 in 2023, the song was written and composed by Junkyu and introduced a more mature, sensual sound than listeners usually associated with him.

• Junkyu said he wanted "MOVE" to have a simple but addictive quality. The track's repetitive hook and performance-focused arrangement helped create a song designed to immediately stick with listeners while giving T5 a distinct identity from full-group TREASURE releases.

• The success of "MOVE" changed the way many fans viewed Junkyu creatively. His goofy, relaxed personality had sometimes overshadowed his musical ambitions, so producing a polished unit single revealed a considerably more serious side of him.

• Junkyu was also chosen as a member of T5 alongside Jihoon, Yoon Jaehyuk, Doyoung and So Junghwan. YG introduced the unit as a performance-focused team before the release of TREASURE's second full-length album REBOOT.

• He has continued receiving songwriting and composition credits beyond "MOVE." His increasing involvement in TREASURE's music suggests that production is becoming an important part of his long-term identity as an artist.

• Junkyu has cited senior YG artists as inspirations during his development as a performer. Growing up around the music of artists such as BIGBANG gave him examples of performers who participated directly in creating their own material.

• His stage personality can feel completely different from the Junkyu seen in casual TREASURE content. Onstage he can project confidence and intensity, while offstage he is often happiest lying down, making strange noises or joking around with the members.

• Junkyu's career required considerable persistence before TREASURE ever debuted. He went from child modeling to years of YG training, experienced elimination on MIXNINE, competed again on YG Treasure Box, endured TREASURE's delayed debut period and eventually became a songwriter and composer within the group.