Jin

*See also: His KProfile and BTS Wiki Page*

## Signature

**Kim Seok-jin** (김석진; born on December 4, 1992), also known by his stage name **Jin**, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. He is a member and vocalist of the South Korean boy group BTS.

## Early life and education

Kim Seok-jin was born on December 4, 1992, in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. His family consists of his mother, father, and older brother.

While in junior high school, Kim was scouted by South Korean K-pop agency SM Entertainment off the street, but he rejected the offer at the time. He initially intended to be an actor, attending Konkuk University and graduating with a degree in art and acting on February 22, 2017. He is currently enrolled in graduate school at Hanyang Cyber University, pursuing studies in areas other than music.

## Career

### 2013–present: BTS

*Main article: BTS*
Kim was scouted by Big Hit Entertainment for his looks while walking down the street. At the time Kim was studying acting and had no background in music. On June 13, 2013, Kim made his debut as one of the four vocalists in BTS with their debut single album *2 Cool 4 Skool*. Kim released his first co-produced track, a solo single from the album *Wings* titled "Awake", in 2016. The song peaked at number 31 on the Gaon Music Chart and six on the Billboard World Digital Singles Chart. In December 2016, he released a Christmas version of "Awake" on SoundCloud.

On August 9, 2018, the second solo by Kim, "Epiphany", was released as a trailer for BTS' then-upcoming compilation album *Love Yourself: Answer*. The song was described as a "building pop-rock melody" by *Billboard* and contains lyrics discussing self-acceptance and self-love.< The full version of the song was eventually released as a track on *Answer*, peaking at number 30 on the Gaon Music Chart and four on the *Billboard* World Digital Singles Chart. In October, he was awarded the fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit by South Korean president Moon Jae-in along with other members of the group.

### 2015–present: Solo activities

Kim collaborated with fellow BTS member V on the song "It's Definitely You", released as part of the *Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth* original soundtrack. He also joined BTS member Jungkook to sing and release an alternate version of "So Far Away", a song from BTS member Suga's self-titled mixtape *Agust D*. Kim's solo covers include "Mom" by Ra.D, "I Love You" by Mate, and "In Front Of The Post Office In Autumn", originally by Yoon Do-hyun in 1994. They were released on SoundCloud on May 7, 2015, December 3, 2015, and June 7, 2018, respectively. He has also made several appearances as a co-host for Korean music award shows, such as *Music Bank* and *Inkigayo*.

On June 4, 2019, Kim released his first independent song "Tonight" as part of the 2019 BTS Festa, a yearly event celebrating the anniversary of the band's debut. The acoustic ballad was composed by Kim, alongside Big Hit Entertainment record producers Slow Rabbit and Hiss Noise. The lyrics, written by Kim and BTS leader RM, are inspired by Kim's relationship with his pets. The track was met with generally positive reception, with praise directed towards Kim's vocals and the song's calming atmosphere.

## Artistry

Kim is a tenor and can play the guitar. Critically, his singing voice has received a generally positive reception. In Kim Young-dae's 2019 novel *BTS: The Review*, members of the Grammy panel stated that his voice has stable breath control and a strong falsetto. Journalist Choi Song-hye, writing for *Aju News*, wrote that BTS singles such as "Spring Day" and "Fake Love" displayed Kim's vocal stability, while the b-side "Jamais Vu" did so for his emotional range. Hong Hye-min of *The Korea Times* described Kim's voice as "tender, sorrowful, [and] free-spirited" and considered it to be the "standout element" on the solo ballad "Epiphany". Critic Park Hee-a, when discussing "Epiphany", stated that Kim "sings the most sentimental emotions" of the solo tracks on *Love Yourself: Answer*. In a review of "Fake Love", Park said that Kim's belting "prove[d] [the song's] effectiveness".

## Influence

In 2018, he was ranked as the 11th most well-known idol in South Korea, via data collected by analytics company Gallup Korea.

## Philanthropy

In December 2018, Kim donated various supplies to the Korean Animal Welfare Association to celebrate his birthday, purchasing food, blankets, and dishes for the organization. That same day, he donated 321 kilograms of food to the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA), another Korean animal welfare non-profit.

Since May 2018, Kim has been a monthly donor to UNICEF Korea, requesting that his donations be private at the time. They were eventually publicized following his induction into the UNICEF Honors Club in May 2019 for donating over ₩100 million (about US$84,000).

## Personal life

As of 2018, Kim lives in Hannam-dong, Seoul, South Korea. In 2018, Kim purchased a luxury apartment in South Korea worth US$1.7 million. Despite owning an apartment, he continues to live with the members of BTS in Hannam-dong. Additionally, he and his older brother opened a Japanese-style restaurant in Seoul called Ossu Seiromushi in 2018.

## Awards and nominations

*Main article: BTS (Awards and nominations)*
Melon Music Awards

### Writing credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless otherwise noted.

 2015
 2016
 2019

## Trivia

* Jin was born in Anyang, Gyeonggi-do but his family moved to Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do when he was 1 year old.
* His family consists of his father, mother, and older brother Kim Seok Joong.
	+ His brother is 2 year older than him.
* He's from a well-off family. His father is the CEO of a company.
* During his middle school years, Jin was an exchange student in Australia.
* He had been scouted 3 months after enrolling into university, in the Summer of 2011.
	+ Before being streetcast for auditions, he had been a student at Konkuk University, majoring in acting.
* When he was scouted by Big Hit Entertainment, there were only RM, Suga, and J-Hope there.
* Jin and RM used to be the least skilled dancers in BTS, but they improved a lot.
* Jin sang in the track "It's Definitely You" for the "Hwarang" OST alongside V.
* He was casted in "Law of the Jungle" in Kota Manado but had to leave earlier than the rest of the cast because BTS had an abroad concert during that time.
* In April 2018, he opened a Japanese restaurant called "Ossu Seiromushi" with his brother. The restaurant is located in Seoul, near Lake Seokchon.
* During primary school, his favorite subject was Physical Education.
	+ He especially liked tennis, swimming, and golf since his father taught him these sports.
	+ He is also fond of snowboarding and ski because of his father.
* When his father went on business trips, he used to take Jin with him, so he visited a lot of places like Japan, Europe, and Australia.
* He got into gaming in his 1st year of middle school.
	+ Back then he used to spend all of his summer vacation playing video games at an internet cafe with his friends.
	+ He started playing Super Mario when he was five years old and Maple Story in seventh grade and still plays them.
	+ B.A.P's Youngjae revealed that he is in a gaming crew with Jin, BTOB's Eunkwang, and VIXX's Ken called "The Strongest Idol".
* Both his middle school and high school were all-boys schools.
* During his 1st year of high school, his dream was to become a newspaper reporter.
* He wanted to become an actor after seeing Kim Nam-Gil in "Queen Seondeok".
* His role model is T.O.P from BIGBANG.
* The members of BTS place him as the 1st in terms of visuals.
	+ The members also said that Jin has the longest legs in BTS.
	+ He's very confident about his looks, especially about his full lower lip and his broad shoulders.
		- He revealed his shoulders are 60cm wide.
	+ In 2017, after BTS attended the Billboard Music Awards, Jin got a lot of attention internationally for his good looks.
	+ Jin was ranked 47th on TC Candler's "The 100 Most Handsome Faces of 2018".
* He is also known for his "traffic dance".
* Jin speaks Mandarin Chinese and basic English.
* In the old dorm, Jin was the member usually in charge of cleaning up.
* He likes Disney princesses.
* He is a very good cook.
	+ He also enjoys looking at photos and recipes.
	+ He also loves eating.
	+ His favorite foods are lobster, meat, naengmyun (cold noodles), chicken and greasy foods.
	+ He likes strawberries, but he doesn't like strawberry flavored things.
* The first-ever album that Jin bought was a Girls' Generation album.
* His favorite number is 4.
* Jin's favorite color is blue. His favorite color used to be pink.
* His favorite weather is spring sunlight.
* He really loves Super Mario toys that he even asked his friends to buy him one.
* Jin has a habit of blinking with his left eye when he's hungry.
* Jin winks if he meets eyes with anyone.
* He can open a bag of chips with his feet.
* Jin's favorite items are his Maple Story action figures, Super Mario action figures, and Nintendo games.
* When he was younger, he wanted to be a detective.
* He has really strong prescription glasses but he doesn't like wearing them because it makes him feel insecure.
* Jin chose V as the member that he's closest to.
* V says Jin is like Hidetoshi from Doraemon.
* Jin wakes up 2 hours earlier than the rest of the members.
* He has a driver's license.
* Jin can play the guitar and the piano.
* Jin likes alpacas.
* If he'd get a day off, he'd want Suga as his servant so he can order him around.
* Jin can't watch horror movies. He once watched a horror movie during his first year of college and ended up clinging to the person next to him.
* If Jimin had to go with a member during spring he'd choose Jin because he's funny to be with.
* Jin and Jungkook bicker a lot. A taxi driver once thought that Jungkook and Jin were twins because of their non-stop bickering.
* Jin said that looking at bugs isn't scary to him but once they get on his body, he gets really scared.
* Whenever Jin makes a dad joke, the only person who doesn't laugh is Suga.
* Jin dieted for a year, eating only chicken breasts.
* Jin used to work at a strawberry farm.
* Jin had a dog named JJanggu.
	+ Currently, Jin has two pets. Both are sugar gliders and their names are Odeng and Eomuk. He got them after searching for Suga on the internet but sugar gliders popped up instead.
		- Eomuk later passed away because of an accident, so he got a new sugar glider called Gukmul.
* He is the first idol to hit 100 million hearts on a solo VLive.
* Jin is friends with Kidoh, an ex-member of ToppDogg, B1A4's Sandeul, VIXX's Ken, and Monsta X's Jooheon and Lee Won-keun.
* Moonbyul from Mamamoo said that the '92 liners have a group chat. Jin, VIXX's Ken, B1A4's Sandeul and Baro, and EXID's Hani are in it.
	+ Moonbyul also mentioned that Jin and Sandeul always make the chatroom interesting.
* The three requirements for Jin's happiness are money, friends, and a quiet place.
* In the old dorm, Jin and Suga used to share a room. Suga said that Jin is his ideal roommate.
* In the new dorm, he has his own room.
* Jin's ideal type is a girl whose looks and personality are similar to that of a puppy; someone who's good at cooking, is kind and takes good care of him.

## Quote

**Jungkook:** Jin-hyung looks manly and he's chic like a wolf but personality-wise, he's carefree so he's sloth-like (laughs). He's really nice and he's also a good cook, so we call him "granny" between us.
**Jimin:** He's like a grandma.
**Suga:** A Wolf.
**V:** Prince.
**J-Hope:** A Princess.

## Notes

1. ↑ Although credited under BTS, the song is a solo by Jin.