svt-tsina

[svt-tsina]

The Truth About PLEDIS’s Lost Girl Group

January 10th, 2022

For fans of SEVENTEEN, IVE, and PRISTIN, the early days of SEVENTEEN – namely through the lead up-to-their debut was difficult and filled with drama. For the longest time, the controversy of the unfortunate “Seventeen3” made up of Kwon Chaeri, Tsukino Inari (TSINA), and Zhang Juyin, haunted SEVENTEEN’s rookie years, as well as the people effected by it – mainly because it was a whole mystery. But the truth behind of it all has finally been revealed – by the people it effected most.

In the pre-debut days of SEVENTEEN, when the main content was SEVENTEEN, a few trainees were introduced that are not part of the SEVENTEEN lineup nowadays. There is of course, the four boys that were part of the lineup originally (hence their name) – Jang Doyoon, Samuel Kim, Shin Dongjin and Yao Mingming, along with three girls, the previously mentioned Chaeri, Inari, and Juyin. As the now known lineup was settled, it became known to fans and the industry, as well as the SEVENTEEN members themselves that PLEDIS was introducing Chaeri, Inari and Juyin to the public as early promo for the “New Generation Project”. This Project was announced as PLEDIS’s new phase of groups. Like After School (who debuted in 2009) and NU’EST (debuted in 2012) who were often considered to the “younger brother group” of After School, PLEDIS was going to be a boy-group, likely SEVENTEEN, and then once the group had exited its rookie years, likely a year or two, it would debut SEVENTEEN’s younger sister group – off of established trainees Chaeri, Inari, and Juyin. However, as we all know, that apparent Project was scrapped – or rather altered with PRISTIN’s debut in 2017, and it led to the drama of Tsukino’s - SEVENTEEN’s TSINA’s debut.

But now, seven years after SEVENTEEN’s debut, we are finally getting answers from the people themselves. With SEVENTEEN’s first contract renewals, many were curious with how it would change – but no one expected the changes to be made. Alongside with much-needed enforcements of personal respect and better treatment for SEVENTEEN, it appears that contract renewal has allowed for members – namely TSINA and S.COUPS to speak up about the debut years.

On January 8th, two days ago, Tsukino Inari (TSINA), Choi Seungcheol (S.COUPS), Lee Jihoon (WOOZI), Kwon Chaeri, and Zhang Juyin released a joint statement through Tsukino’s personal management MOON& about the situation. Why is it coming this late, with SEVENTEEN’s contract renewals having finished in July of last year? An NDA, that according to the statement, all members of SEVENTEEN, Kwon Chaeri and Zhang Juyin along with others involved in the previously unnamed girl group project were coerced into signing by PLEDIS upper management. One that has just expired for SEVENTEEN. The statement reveals that while other former PLEDIS artist and staffs NDA had expired, the other parties had stayed quiet until SEVENTEEN, Kwon, and Zhang were able to speak on it.

The statement reveals much of the treatment to a deeper extent that the PLEDIS trainees had been put through from the years of 2013-2016. The beginning of the statement starts from 2013, detailing with the departure of four of SEVENTEEN’s planned members, PLEDIS decided they need something more to keep them relevant in the industry. Thus the idea of an established sibling-group project to be put out, attempting to mimic the success of SM and JYP. Choi states that as early as February of 2014 was he approached with promises of SEVENTEEN’s debut and the proposed Project: Next Generation. It was with Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang’s introduction to SeventeenTV that Choi along with the three girls were informed by PLEDIS managers and board members – including CEO Han Sungsoo – of the plans for the fourteen-member girl group JEWELZ, which Tsukino would lead.

The Seventeen formula was to continue with JEWELZ. Tsukino Inari was to lead the Hip-Hop Unit of Im Nayoung, Kang Yaebin (Rena), Kyla Massie, and Huh Yujin. Kwon Chaeri was to lead the Performance Unit of Kang Gyeongwon (Yuha), Zhou Jieqiong (Kyulkyung), and Park Junghyeon (Xiyeon). And Zhang Juyin was to lead the Vocal Unit of Bae Sungyeon, Kim Minkyeung (Roa), Jang Eunwoo and Kim Yewon (Yehana). The statement lists the group was planned to have a “cool girl-next-door” concept and Bumzu was to be the main producer behind the group, along with the Unit Leaders Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang participating creatively. Additionally, it is listed in the plans for the leaders to debut first in pre-debut mini-unit, called CROWNS, a year after SEVENTEEN’s debut with a feature on SEVENTEEN’s first comeback. The statement mentions that at this point Lee Jihoon and Bumzu were on the fence with the debut plans, stating that it would make SEVENTEEN’s debut year difficult. However, all parties agreed, and an agreement was signed. It was then that the future members were brought on board to the plan, and began training together in a group setting, as well as practicing and becoming close with SEVENTEEN. The leaders of both groups also started working together closely. At this point, on December 10th, 2014 all parties – the future JEWELZ members, Choi, Lee, and Bumzu were asked by Han Sungsoo and PLEDIS board members signed an NDA for the creation of the new project. All parties signed this NDA.

However on April 14th 2015, six days prior to the beginning of filming for Seventeen Project: Debut Big Plan all parties were now given a new NDA to sign – minus Bumzu. The plan for JEWELZ was to be shelved, as the excitement for SEVENTEEN’s debut was “enough” according to company representatives. All members of the now defunct JEWELZ would continue training as Pledis Girlz, while the former leaders – Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang, would now have to compete for their spots in SEVENTEEN. All members of SEVENTEEN, Pledis Girlz, and the unofficially named “Seventeen3” were threatened with removal from their trainee groups, blacklisting from the industry, and fines if they did not sign the NDA. 

Kwon states that she, “felt as though the company had completely betrayed her and her friends, but that she had no choice but to sign, as she and her family did not have the financial means to recover from the fines.” Kwon continued, revealing that several years down the road, despite her being quite talented, PLEDIS management had apparently only chosen her for JEWELZ and Project Seventeen due to her “coming from a poor family and not having the means to say no to the company”. Even worse, it had been a former PLEDIS manager that had told Kwon that, during the time she spent on MIXNINE attempting to debut.

Zhang followed this up, aiding Kwon’s story by revealing that her family was also financially unstable and she too had learned years later from a different former PLEDIS employee – one who had not worked on the project or anything that Zhang had been involved in – had mocked her for “being picked because she was poor”.

While Tsukino was the most financially stable of the three – though not by much –  she had dealt with taunting from former staff members and stylists who had said to her face that, “[she] was only considered for JEWELZ and put in SEVENTEEN because she would attract scandal” and that “they only kept her because they knew she was sending all of her money home to support her dad and wouldn’t be able to pay off her trainee debt for several years” – even though she had trained much shorter than the rest of them, minus Minghao. Tsukino also states that she had not been able to fully read either NDA at the dates of the signing – as Korean had always been difficult for her to read – and even when she asked for the NDA/contract in English or Japanese, she was refused and laughed at. This lead to a rather infamous and disgusting part of her Seventeen contract that took several years for her to learn off – that she was not allowed to contact her family without direct permission and supervision – leading to Tsukino, her family, and SEVENTEEN learning that the company kept a record of all text messages, phone calls, and photos on Tsukino’s phone. Tsukino, SEVENTEEN, and her family now believe this to be the main reason behind the questionable leeks that lead to Tsukino’s 2018 Red Light Scandal. 

With the expiration of the NDA and all parties free to speak on it – the statement has also included some of SEVENTEENs contract negotiations and why the matter was not brought to higher courts. All parties affected by the prior NDAs were paid $1.8 billion KRW in emotional reparations by the former and current PLEDIS board members involved, all existing board members minus CEO Han Sungsoo retired, CEO Han Sungsoo is required to cut his personal salary for the next seven years, the PLEDIS division of HYBE LABELS is required to keep translators and cultural advisors on payroll, all contracts have to be written issues in both Korean and English, and all members of SEVENTEEN are given allowance to manage their solo activities through a company that is not PLEDIS (such as Tsukino recent company MOON&)

While the contract negotiations may seem like a lot, most fans and netizens are agreeing that they are necessary and well-deserved given what the company/perpetrators have put the affected parties through. 

[svt-tsina]

trivia

her favourite colours are black, silver, and burgundy

her special handheld mics have always been a chrome silver, and since 2023 is covered in "scribbles" which was later revealed to be all of the members signatures so that she 'always has seventeen with her' when performing

she rarely uses a headset mic, perfering to use handheld, but when using it she's been wearing a headset with silver in-ears

her favourite gem stones are rubies and yellow diamonds

her favourite foods are katsu-don, kimchi jigae, paella, and fruit salads

she almost exclusively has kept her hair long her entire career

her favourite animal is a capybara but her second favourite (and representative) animal is a fox

is quite athletic - since 2020 she has been consistently working out and packing on muscle - something the other members LOVE to show off

enjoys gaming - mainly stardew valley, minecraft, valorant, and story based games (obsessed with elden ring and baldurs gate 2 & 3)

loves reading - her favourite genres are comics/graphic novels, science fiction, and fantasy

favourite books/series are fullmetal alchemist, the hunger games, and the percy jackson universe

she has four different drivers licenses: a South Korean Class 1 General License, an International Drivers Permit, a Japanese Class 1 License, and a FIM Motocross License

she is considered by the other seventeen members to be one of the scariest when mad

is a very light drinker; as such does not typically drink or choose to drink

she’s a cuddly drunk; which the members abuse as it is time they most likely can get physical affection from her

as you can guess, she is not big on physical affection and tends to avoid or shy away from it - can be called touch-averse

whenever missions make her "kiss" members she kisses one of her fingers and then pokes the members

hates being given said missions

never gets the missions on gose, in debut variety shows tended to give her those messages

when members get physical missions they obvi still respect her boundaries while being competitive as hell

that being said the three members that can get away with most physical affection are woozi, minghao, and wonwoo - the first two don't seek out affection normally and the last doesn't normally do it to her in public

is a very clean and tidy person, needs her personal spaces to be clean and tidy

a fourteen person dorm practically killed her

despite being 'icy' and less emotive, she is quite funny and endearing - something fans love

has a lot of cursed memes that she doesn't care about

face-palms a lot

also particularly known for the early years speaking her unfiltered thoughts to fans in spanish bcs pledis didn't have a translator

certified idiot 90% of the time but people think she's smart

she is she just has no energy for bullshit

despite not having a position as a dancer she is a quite talented one, she's been noted for having a certain grace to her dancing while also being sharp - her musicality is amazing

speaking of musicality she is talented in both writing lyrics and songs - though she usually stays away from producing as she prefers woozi's or bumzu's producing, but she's been trying it out more

has written almost all of her raps on seventeen tracks and goes through and works on all of their raps

as a multilingual and part of the foreign line, she is very strong on her diction meaning she has a tendency to correct korean members on their diction - especially in raps

also the reason for her nickname 'bullet-mouth'

other nicknames and their reasonings:

nari - shortened from 'inari' and her korean name

queenie - for her importance in the group and mannerisms

human vivienne westwood - from the amount that she wears, her love of the brand/designer, and her career with them

foxie - from her name, representative animal, looks, and 'slyness'

daredevil - for her love of extreme speed and sports

[svt-tsina]

love life

inari is bisexual, though not openly, and has a preference for men. she's only been in a few actual relationships in her life as she falls on aromantic spectrum.

JIHYO of TWICE

2016

friends to fwbs, fwbs to lovers, lovers to friends

The pair met during both of their group's debut and became close friends. One fateful night of drinking the others had fallen asleep led to the two of them hooking up and then dating for a few months. The pair broke up amicably and are still great friends. Inari may or may not have set Jihyo up with her rumoured boyfriend, Yun Sungbin.

public: never

shipname: n/a, hyori by friends

age-gap: 2 days

PARK JIHOON

2018-2019

friends to lovers, lovers to acquaintances

The pair met when Jihoon was still a member of Wanna One, as Inari had watched Produce Season 2 (mainly to support her friends), and they were later introduced at the 2017 MAMA Awards. It wasn't until the next year after hesitation from Inari to be dating a rookie and a younger man. The two dated for over a year before breaking up due to scheduling conflicts and falling out of love.

public?: yes, but after breakup, in 2021

shipname: naji

age-gap: two years

JEON WONWOO of SEVENTEEN

2020 - present

trainees to co-workers, co-workers to friends, friends to lovers

The bandmates have always been close once getting over their respective shyness, sharing hobbies and often finding themselves retreating into each other's spaces. Neither of them can really tell when their feelings for eachother changed, but a late night walk during the pandemic led to them confessing. In 2022 they purchased a condo in Itaewon together where they live. In July of 2024, Inari proposed to Wonwoo. The couple is planning on marrying after Wonwoo's military enlistment.

public?: yes, as of august 2024

shipname: inwoo

age-gap: one year

[svt-tsina]

modelling

inari has had a love for fashion for quite a long time. growing up she was massively inspired by the likes of vivienne westwood and the visual kei style. as she became famous and in the general eye of the public, she has jumped at the chance to participate in the fashion world.

IRIS VAN HERPEN

Inari's first big break into the fashion world came with Iris Van Herpen a few years after their debut in 2019. In late 2017 she began posting short form videos to Seventeen's Youtube Channel where she would show Carats behind-the-scenes looks of how she designed SEVENTEENs looks for album concepts, red carpets, and events. She frequently invited PLEDIS stylist and her friend Yoon Sungmi on the show as Sungmi helped Inari execute the designs as well as just working on side projects with Inari. Another regular guest was fellow members Minghao and Mingyu, the three of them often considered SEVENTEEN's most fashionable. Inari at the time (2018) was greatly inspired by butterflies and would often use Van Herpen designs as her inspo. A video of hers, where she made a Iris Van Herpen inspired suit jacket for friend and labelmate NU'EST/WANNA ONE Minhyun, which he wore on the 2018 MMA red carpet, went viral and caught the attention of executives at Iris Van Herpen. Additionally, Inari had styled all of Seventeen in eye-catching suits, all with carefully embroired motifs of blue hydrangeas, butterflies, and personalized designs of their "assigned mascots". NU'EST W had also been partially styled by Inari, as she and Sungmi had personally embriodered butterflies and teal hearts into the members pocket squares.

Then in February of 2019, Inari was photographed for Vogue Thailand in Iris Van Herpen, and announced on the brand socials as a brand ambassador.

Inari would then break waves in the Kpop industry by attending the 2021 Met Gala representing Iris Van Herpen alongside Grimes (a known name in KPop), Gabrielle Union, Winnie Harlow, Tessa Thompson, Hailee Steinfeld and Valentina Sampaio.

Inari is still a brand ambassador, walking for Iris Van Herpen in Paris Haute Couture Week 2022 (January and July) and 2024 (June)

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

In 2021, Inari's childhood dreams came true when she was named a brand ambassador for Vivienne Westwood. After years of mentioning her love for the designer, creating her own pieces inspired by the brand and proudly displaying the few pieces she collected and owned herself, the artist became an ambassador of the brand she adored.

Then, in 2022 she attended the Met Gala representing Vivienne Westwood alongside SZA. Just weeks after the Met Gala, Inari was announced as a face of the brand and has been since.

She’s modelled the 2023 Bridal Collection, walked for Paris Fashion Week 2022 (March and September), Paris Fashion Week 2023 (March), Paris Fashion Week 2024 (March and September, and attended the 2023 Met Gala with Vivienne Westwood.

It's also been highly rumoured that Inari will be collabing with the brand on a special co-designed collection for their Spring Collection.

[svt-tsina]

articles

pledis new group is co-ed - with one girl and thirteen boys! | the history of pledis's lost girl group

[svt-tsina]

history

italizied is information not known to the public

wc: 1.3k

Tsukino Inari was born on January 30th 1997 in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan to professional motorcyclist Tsukino Masahiro and Tsukino Sakuna, chief editor of Vogue Japan.

From an early age Inari was passionate about two things: art and speed. She didn't like school and didn't do well except for creative based classes. She loved playing piano as a very young child and was in as many children plays and kabuki shows she could join. Due to her mother, who was a writer for Vogue through most of Inari's early childhood, she also developed a love for fashion quickly, mainly coming from loving to dress-up as different characters in theatre. According to a former teacher, she was "figuring out how to alter her school uniform by grade one to express herself".

Inari attended international schools since she was young, as her parents both worked in global industries and had to learn languages later in life with difficulty. Due to Suzuka's population and cultural opportunities, Inari started learning English, Portugese, and French. She attended Escola Alegria de Saber from kindergarten until leaving Japan for Korea.

When she was 6 her father retired from professional racing due to an accident that badly injured his knees. For most of her remaining childhood and into the beginnings of her music career in Korea, her mother was the sole breadwinner of the family as her dad never attended university and was wheelchair bound for much of her younger years. This led to a large amount of stress on Inari's family, as the accident left Masahiro infertile and Inari their only child - a daughter. While her mother and father were happy with just Inari, loving her dearly, the remainder of their family wasn't happy.

Masahiro's family had been non-existent through his childhood and teenage years until he reached acclaim and fame as a racer, and had been present due to the prospects of grandchildren. Masahiro's father in particular, Inari's paternal grandfather, had explicitly told Masahiro and Sakuna that they were to have a son so that the family wouldn't be "doomed" because of Masahiro. After the accident killed Masahiro's on-track career, Inari's paternal relatives completely ditched them. Sakuna's family were only a bit better, as they did help support the couple and their young daughter financially - but on the condition that Masahiro saw fertility specialists. As such, Inari did not have a high opinion of her family outside of her mother and father and led her to be mistrustful of "family ideals" and men-in-power.

As she grew into her now "icy" personality, due to the effects of her family and financial situation growing up, she was exposed to hip-hop and RNB music through childhood friends and classmates at the international school she attended. She was particularly enraptured by Missy Elliot, Tinashe, and Tupac. She started learning how to rap and write music (outside of classical), and began participating in Suzuka's small rap scene at her local genba at age 14. Her early raps and mixtapes were often written about the cynical nature of elders and hierarchical families, which spoke to her peers. Upon learning of her actions by accident, her parents supported her, and her father, having encountered many people of different cultures and learned music their music, helped her test music and even learned from an old co-worker how to use SoundCloud to teach her. Through this, she gained a small internet following and larger in-person following in Mie.

Originally, she planned on becoming a music teacher or even trying to work in the fashion industry, she began to consider performing music more as a career. A video of her began circling the internet - a short 30s clip posted by a friend during a friendly rap competition. At the time, NU'EST had just made its Japanese debut and was doing work in the country. NU'EST members Aron and JR came across the video, and the five members along with a manager attended the genba Inari frequented. This caught NU'ESTs managers eye, and when him and JR spotted her a few days later busking in the streets with some friends dancing to SNSD's Galaxy Supernova, PLEDIS decided they wanted to scout her, as there was already talk in the J-idol and K-pop industry of scouting her.

Inari officially became a trainee of PLEDIS in December of 2014 at age 17. At the same, her mother took over for her former boss, editor-in-chief Watanabe Mitsuko, granting the family much needed financial stability. This allowed Inari to become a trainee in Korea and for Masahiro to get surgery and more advanced physiotherapy, allowing him more mobility and the ability to begin working back in racing circles again.

Inari quickly became friends with future bandmates Jun, Minghao, Vernon, Joshua, and Seungcheol, alongside fellow trainees Juyin, Chaeri, Nayoung, Rena, Kyulkyung, Sungyeon, and Kyla. She also developed a friendship with the established idols of PLEDIS, namely After School's Kaeun and NU'EST's JR, the later whom she credits her career in Korea to. After having frequently featured alongside trainees Chaeri and Juyin in SeventeenTV, it was revealed that the three girls would be joining Seventeen if they passed certain criteria through Seventeen's debut show Seventeen Project. It has been since revealed by Inari and other Seventeen members that none of three girls had been told the clauses until the show was filmed. The three of them had previously been told that Seventeen would debut first and then the three girls would be the founding members of Seventeen's younger sister group - later speculated to contain the future PRISTIN members and Huh Yujin.

Upon the start of Seventeen Project it became quickly clear to the three girls - unofficially named Seventeen3 by fans - and the established members of Seventeen that only one of them would join the group, and alongside the show "deciding" if Seventeen would debut, it would actually decide which girl would debut with Seventeen. In the end, Inari just barely made it into the group.

This lack of communication and personal betrayal led to Inari distrusting PLEDIS from the early years, which continued to fester for years to come. Along with PLEDIS's existing and future mistreatment of SEVENTEEN, it led to several points in Inari's career that almost caused her to leave Seventeen.

Inari debuted with Seventeen on May 26, 2015 under the stage name TSINA ("ts" from Tsukino and "ina" from Inari) as a member of the Hip-Hop Unit. At this time, Inari did not have an official position in the Hip-Hop Unit like she does now, but it was clear from early days that the remaining four members did often look to her for feedback when it came to their raps - Mingyu especially. Inari quickly gathered attention within the KPOP world, mainly for negative reasons and was often painted in the early days as a gold digger and "unwanted member". However, Inari managed to make a name for herself as a powerhouse as the years went on, greatly improving Seventeen's Hip-Hop Unit and rightfully earning the title of Co-Leader with Seungcheol for the Unit, despite the language gap in the early years. In 2016, Inari started going viral for her "grunge" style, changing public opinion, as she was no longer being solely restricted to cutesy, pastel styles of their debut year. Inari, in one of her first solo lives, would admit that she preferred to dress more "androgynously and darker" and shared pre-debut photos of herself, explaining how she liked to alter and even make clothes for herself, members, and friends. She even noted and expressed her inspirations of Vivienne Westwood, mall goth aesthetic, and Visual Kei.

As of 2025, Inari is a multiple award-winning artist (both solo and with SEVENTEEN), respected fashionista and designer, social activist, the muse and face of Vivienne Westwood, and a top KOMCA and JASRAC accredited artist.

[svt-tsina]

profile

stage name: TSINA (katakana: シナ)

birth name: tsukino inari (kanji: 月野 稲荷)

korean name: im nari (hangul: 임 나리)

nicknames: nari, queenie, human vivianne westwood, foxie, daredevil, bullet-mouth

birthday: january 30, 1997

birthplace: suzuka, mie prefecture, japan

nationality: japanese

ethnicity: japanese

zodiacs: ox, aquarius

languages (in order of learning): japanese, english, portugese, french, korean, mandarin

occupation: idol, underground rapper, lyricist, creative designer, fashion designer, model

svt position: hip hop team co-leader, rapper, sub-vocalist, lyricist, designer

units: hip hop, ijv

debut: may 26, 2015 (svt) | jan 30, 2020 (solo) | december 14, 2023 (ijv)

years active: 2011 - present

agency: pledis (2015 - 2020), hybe labels* (2020 - present)

animal/emoji: 🦊

face claim: yoon (stayc)

rap claim: maya (xg)

vocal claim: gaeun (after school)

dance claim: jihyo (twice)

WHAT SHE’S KNOWN FOR

svt’s only japanese and female member

her past as a underground rapper

her “grunge chic” fashion sense and her position in the fashion world

being tied with MOONBYUL for most KOMCA credits for an idol in 19th place, with 117 credits

being the kpop idol with the most JASRAC (japanese society for rights of authors, composers, and publishers) credits at 132 credits

her “daredevil” nature and love for high-speed sports

her no-bullshit attitude and outspokenness in the industry

[svt-tsina]

m. list

profile | family | history | trivia

style | tsina’s dorms throughout the years | tsina’s apartment

relationships in svt | tsina’s bff’s | tsina’s contacts | love life | predebut friends

•••

scenarios | blurbs

•••

era’s | credits | modelling | acting

•••

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fan videos | fan tweets/posts

articles | tsina’s “scandals”

[svt-tsina]

nav.

TSINA (シナ), born Tsukino Inari (月野 稲荷), is a fictional Japanese rapper, singer, and fashion designer based out of Korea and a member of co-ed group SEVENTEEN.

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