JIHOON
the human switch between reliable stage captain and variety-show menace. This page keeps the official facts separate from fandom shorthand and updates leadership to the 2026 NEW WAV era.
Profile
- Stage name
- JIHOON
- Born
- March 14, 2000
- Nationality
- South Korean · Busan
- Group
- TREASURE
- Role
- Vocalist and dancer
- Debut
- August 7, 2020
- Agency
- YG Entertainment
- Current era
- NEW WAV (2026)
Early life and training
JIHOON trained under YG, left the company, and returned before competing on YG Treasure Box. That return is the useful part of the story: he did not simply wait for a debut slot to arrive. He came back and fought for one.
The common mistake is to compress every TREASURE member into “survival-show trainee.” The show was the public gate, not the entire education. Training length, starting skill and the reason each member stayed visible were different. For JIHOON, the useful thread is continuity: the qualities visible before debut are still present, but they now carry the weight of six years onstage.
Career
Pre-debut · earning the lineup
YG Treasure Box asked trainees to compete across vocals, rap, dance and audience response. The final plan changed repeatedly—from separate TREASURE and MAGNUM units, to TREASURE 13, to one twelve-member group—but JIHOON remained part of the project that finally debuted.
2020–2021 · The First Step
TREASURE debuted with “BOY” on August 7, 2020 and released the First Step series at unusually fast speed. These stages established JIHOON’s base identity before the group had enough songs to specialize.
2022–2023 · ten-member reboot
After MASHIHO and BANG YE DAM left in November 2022, the group reorganized as ten. REBOOT and its units gave the remaining members more space, more credits and more responsibility. From debut through 2024 he shared leadership with CHOI HYUN SUK. In 2023 he joined T5 for “MOVE,” a unit that put his dancer side in the foreground. The leadership title later rotated, but he remains one of the members other people naturally look toward onstage.
2024–2026 · chapter two
Singles, PLEASURE and LOVE PULSE led into NEW WAV, the 2026 all-hip-hop mini album. Read the connected review of “IF I” for the current ten-member sound, formation work and rollout tea.
Skills and stage identity
He is a performance all-rounder whose vocal attack stays firm while the choreography gets busy. His dance has clean power rather than decorative softness, and he is unusually quick at reading a live room.
What to listen for
Find the moment the arrangement gives JIHOON room rather than counting lines. In a ten-member song, impact matters more than raw seconds. Tone, timing and what happens immediately after the part tell you why it was placed there.
What to watch
Watch transitions and reaction shots, not only center time. TREASURE’s large formations depend on members remaining active when the camera is technically pointed elsewhere. JIHOON’s value often becomes clearest in that connective work.
Era map
| Era | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| The First Step | Debut identity and the original twelve-member scale. |
| “JIKJIN” / “DARARI” | The split between YG-force performance and TREASURE’s softer viral side. |
| REBOOT | Ten-member redefinition, larger individual roles and unit work. |
| PLEASURE / LOVE PULSE | Fan-facing warmth, self-production and the road into chapter two. |
| NEW WAV | All-hip-hop framing, current leadership and the English title track “IF I”. |
Fandom file
JIHOON’s fandom reputation is built on contrast. He can be disciplined and direct, then become the person most likely to provoke chaos for a joke. That is why his variety clips travel so well.
The RaeRae take
JIHOON matters because the human switch between reliable stage captain and variety-show menace. The page is not here to hand out a bias rating or reduce a person to three trivia bullets. The point is to show what changes when this member enters the song, the formation or the room.
The next step is evidence: every new TREASURE MV review will link back here with the exact vocal, rap, dance, writing or performance moment that belongs to JIHOON. Profiles should get deeper as the review library grows, not sit untouched after publication.
Official links
TREASURE does not list a separate verified public YouTube, Instagram and X account for every member on its official YG profile. These are the verified channels that officially publish JIHOON’s work; fan accounts are intentionally excluded.