She appeared n SBS 'The Ballad of Us'
Kim Yoonie: I'm Kim Yoonie, who's starting anew with ballads after training as an idol trainee. I Before I became a trainee, I used to post covers of ballad songs on Youtube. The company contacted me after seeing those videos. I moved from Daejeon to Seoul in my 2nd year of high school to start training.
Mimi: You must've trained with other friends. Did any of them debut?
Kim Yoonie: Yes, they debuted in Hearts2Hearts and Aespa...
Jeon Hyunmoo: You trained together?
Kim Yoonie: Yes. Our trainee periods overlapped.
Jeon Hynmoo: How long did you train?
Mimi: I trained for five years starting in high school.
Staff: Where did you watch the debut stage of the friends you practiced with?
Kim Yoonie: At home... It was broadcast live. Seeing them all dressed up on a big stage made me feel strange and sad.
After hearing that she trained with Aespa and Hatuha, I looked her up.
Apparently she made it to the Hatuha debut lineup, but was dropped right before the debut.
She would've been a solid visual and main vocalist. What a pityㅠㅠ
SMNGG Main Vocal
Her name is Kim Yoonie
This Hatuha picture was leaked around September 2025, they had 9 members here
The members said they practiced with SNSD's songs a lot.
There were constantly leaked pictures of a trainee named Yoonie born in 2002, she was rumored to be the main vocalist, etc. This suggests that she really left right before the debut.
I looked up who the former SM trainee was
It was Kim Yoonie... I genuinely thought she was going to debut as the main vocalist, especially since SM Ent. intentionally leaked her pictures right before the debut to see netizens' reactions.
'What's your reason for choosing Yoonsang's 'The Shadow of Farewell'?'
Kim Yoonie: I first heard this song while taking the train ride home to Daejeon (My hometown) after packing my things and leaving the dorm after my trainee life came to an end. The song matched how I felt at the time. I prepared and dreamed of being an idol for five years. I felt like I needed to take a break from the long road I'd been running on, just like the song. More than anything, it's Yoonsang's debut song. I wanted it to mark a new beginning for me too.
'This stage is the debut stage of 22-year-old Kim Yoonie'
-It must be because of her age. Her age is closer to Aespa's members. Debut ages keep getting younger and younger.
-Whoa.... She looks like Wendy.
-Why didn't they debut her in Hatuha?
-She's pretty. She looks like Wendy. And she has beautiful voice. She trained for five years... What a pity.
-If age was the issue, the company should've let her go when Aespa debuted. Why did they keep her for that long?
-Idol debuts seem to be more about luck than skill. Even talented ones don't get to debut if they don't suit the group's concept.
-Let's not speculate why she was eliminated from the debut lineup, it'll only lead to negative feelings for everyone. Let's just cheer her on. It's not always about age or skill.
-SM Ent. usually doesn't care that much about age. So maybe it wasn't that...
-Hul... So she was dropped from the 9-member lineup and the group ended up debuting with 8 members? That's sad.
-I can't imagine how sad she must've been on her train ride home after training for 5 years... The company shouldn't have kept her for that long.
-It's probably because she's older... The maknae is like... '10-liner.
-She's an amazing singer. I hope she succeeds!
-The 9-member lineup member would've been amazing... What a shame.
-The company already have two groups with big age gaps between the leader and the maknae. They could've just debuted her.
-If she was born in 2002, it probably is because of her age. Especially if the second oldest member was born in 2006. But still, why did they keep her for that long?
