K-pop idols who are BFFs for life, from BTS’ RM and Got7’s Jackson to Blackpink’s Rosé and Girl’s Day’s Hyeri – but how did they all meet?

Jan 7 , 2021

K-pop besties: Jackson and RM, Hyeri and Rosé, IU and Yoo In-na. Photos: @jacksonwang852g7; @hyeri_0609/Instagram, @iuxdean/Twitter

IU called My Love From The Star actress Yoo In-na her muse at the 2017 Melon Music Awards, while Block B’s P.O and Winner’s Mino have been friends since they were high school classmates at Hanlim Multi Art School

Support networks and close friendships are undeniably important to everyone, and that goes double in a competitive industry like K-pop.

Two heads are better than one, the saying goes – here we look at the K-pop stars who get by with a little help from their friends.

IU and Yoo In-na

The bond between K-pop star IU and actress Yoo In-na is well known. The famous besties met through the variety show Heroes, which ran from 2010 to 2011, and have been inseparable ever since, travelling together, getting matching rings together and even living in the same building.

The singer-songwriter is known for being a generous friend, but she appears to have a particular soft spot for Yoo. She called Yoo “my muse, my star” when she received the album of the year award at the 2017 Melon Music Awards, and wrote the song You about missing Yoo when she was filming a drama at a location with no phone or internet signal.

And Yoo values IU just as much: in a 2018 interview with Chosun newspaper, Yoo said that IU is someone she wants to take care of, adding that the two rely on each other and that they are companions for life.

Block B’s P.O and Winner’s Mino

A teaser image for P.O’s single featuring Winner’s Mino. Photo: @pyojihoon_official/Instagram

These two K-pop stars go way back. Their friendship started much earlier than their debuts – during their high school days, in fact. As classmates at Hanlim Multi Art School, they shared the same dream of becoming a hip-hop duo. You can even find clips of them performing together online.

But although they hoped to debut together, they ended up in different groups under different agencies: P.O. joined Block B while Song Min-ho, better known as Mino, joined YG Entertainment’s Winner. (He was part of the ballad group Bom before that.)