Areum was born on 19 April 1994. She attends the Hanlim School of Arts in the Applied music faculty and has been the top of her class for the past years.



Areum was added into T-ara in July 2012 as their eighth member and made her debut through Day By Day. She was confirmed as the eighth member on 12 June 2012 and her company released official pictures of her on 14 June 2012.



She was already a trainee in the company prior to her debut.