Wooga Squad, Cinderella 7, Wedding Boys and more: Unexpected friend groups in Korean showbiz
PHOTO: Instagram/Park Seo-joon, Instagram/Son Ye-jin
PUBLISHED ONFebruary 02, 2024 10:09 AMBySyarifah NadhirahWhile showbiz can be a cutthroat industry, some celebs have nevertheless made lasting friendships that are ride or die.
Here are seven unexpected friend groups comprising actors and pop idols in the South Korean entertainment scene.
D.O.'s Hyung Squad
They don't have an official name for their friend group, but they have become so loved that fans came up with one for them.
In a 2016 interview, Kim Woo-bin revealed that he has a group of best friends in the showbiz industry.
"There are nine members, but there's no name for the group," he said back then.
"By age, Bae Sung-woo is the oldest, but by experience, it's Cha Tae-hyun. The others are Zo In-sung, Song Joong-ki, Lee Kwang-soo, Kim Ki-bang, Im Joo-hwan, Doh Kyung-soo and me."
In-sung, Kwang-soo and Kyung-soo (also known as D.O. from the K-pop boy band Exo) became acquainted after starring in the 2014 drama It's Okay, That's Love, and it was reported that Kwang-soo later introduced Joong-ki to D.O.
Fans of D.O., the youngest among the nine men, started referring to them as D.O.'s Hyung Squad. 'Hyung' is an honorific term used by men to refer to their older male siblings or friends.
In October last year, Woo-bin, D.O., Kwang-soo and Ki-bang were on the variety show GBRB: Reap What You Sow where they went farming in the countryside.
GBRB: Reap What You Sow is available on Viu.
Dragon's Club
The Hyung Squad isn't Tae-hyun's only friend group. He's also part of the Dragon's Club with fellow veteran stars Jang Hyuk, Kim Jong-kook, Hong Kyung-min and Hong Kyung-in.
The five of them were born in 1976, the year of the dragon, hence the group name.
In 2017, they appeared in the seven-episode variety show Dragon's Club: Overgrown Bromance, and it was revealed in the show that they have been close friends for 20 years.
More recently, the group was on Couriers in Mongolia with younger actor Kang Hoon where they delivered parcels around the country.
Dragon's Club: Overgrown Bromance is available on YouTube.
Wooga Squad
Perhaps the most widely known one in the list is the Wooga Squad, consisting of BTS' V, Park Hyung-sik, Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik and Peakboy.
The first three stars became close after their 2016 drama Hwarang and later on, Seo-joon reportedly introduced Woo-shik and longtime friend Peakboy to the group.
V revealed in a 2020 interview that the name Wooga is an abbreviation of the Korean term 'Woori-ga gajok-inka?' which means 'Are we family?'.
If you can't get enough of this quartet, catch them on the 2022 reality series In The Soop: Friendcation where they go on a four-day friendship trip.
In The Soop: Friendcation is available on Disney+.
97-liners
It started from one performance and now the group has grown.
In 2016, KBS gathered 10 K-pop idols born in 1997 to perform a cover of I'm a Flying Butterfly by YB.
The chosen 10 were BTS' Jungkook, Got7's Yugyeom and BamBam, and Seventeen's Mingyu, DK and The8, DIA's Chaeyeon, Twice's Jihyo as well as Yuju and Eunha from the now-disbanded Gfriend.
In 2017, Jungkook mentioned how he has a group chat with male idols born in 1997. Later on, Cha Eun-woo from Astro and NCT's Jaehyun joined the squad.
98-liners
You've heard of the 97-liners, what about 98-liners?
The group comprises Seventeen's Seungkwan, iKon's Chanwoo, Viviz' SinB and Umji, former The Ark member Suji, Imfact's Ungjae and the late Moonbin from Astro.
Moonbin and SinB grew up together and later grew close to Chanwoo after he appeared in TVXQ's music video with Moonbin.
In 2022, Moonbin, Seungkwan, SinB and Umji appeared on the variety series MMTG where they had chaotic banters while watching the reality dating show Transit Love.
Cinderella Seven
They never hang out past midnight, and for that reason, they call themselves the Cinderella Seven.
Veteran actresses Son Ye-jin, Gong Hyo-jin, Lee Min-jung, Uhm Ji-won, Song Yoon-ah, Oh Yoon-ah and Lee Jung-hyun have been longtime friends, having reunions over the years and being spotted at each other's weddings.
In a 2015 interview, Ye-jin was asked about what she does with her girlfriends when they meet up, and she revealed that they just "hang out at home".
"We cook, we talk, and we play board games. Now that we're ageing, we can't even drink past midnight because we get tired. We never hang out past midnight. It's like we are kids all over again," she said back then.
More recently, the group was said to be in attendance at Ye-jin's wedding in 2022 where Hyo-jin reportedly caught the bouquet.
Wedding Boys
This one's for the fans of second-generation K-pop groups.
Jung Yong-hwa from CNBlue, former Mblaq member Lee Joon, Yoon Doo-joon from Highlight and Hwang Kwang-hee from Ze:a grew close after they became a temporary project group named Wedding Boys on the variety show Infinite Challenge in 2016, where they covered Marry You by Bruno Mars and Lee Sora's Proposal.
Though Kwang-hee and Lee Joon have gone on to hosting and acting respectively, the two of them joined Doo-joon in featuring on Yong-hwa's 2020 song Would You Marry Me?.
More recently in October last year, the four of them appeared on Kwang-hee's YouTube series Domestic Gift Factory and sang a 2023 version of Marry You.
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