Winter

Kim Min-jeong (known professionally as Winter) is a South Korean singer and dancer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Aespa which debuted under SM Entertainment in November 2020. In January 2022, Winter became a member of the first unit ‘Got the Beat’ of supergroup Girls On Top.

Kim Min-jeong was born in Nampo-dong, Busan, South Korea, but spent her childhood in Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do. She was born into a military family, with her father, older brother and several relatives all in the military. As a result, she initially dreamed of becoming a soldier.

Kim Min-jeong attended Yangsan Samsung Middle School and was a hardworking student who excelled in mathematics and was popular among her peers, leading to her being elected vice president. She learnt to play several instruments, including piano and guitar, and played several sports, including bowling, kendo, fencing, basketball and badminton. She was also a member of the school’s dance club.

She was a student at Yangsan Girls’ High School until she was discovered by an SM talent scout during a performance at her school’s dance festival in 2016. Her parents were surprised by her decision to audition, as she had never shared her aspirations of becoming a singer with them before she was scouted. She said that during the audition she had to sing for more than three to four hours. She was accepted and left school to begin training immediately. She later took and passed her GED exam.

Winter trained for four years. In 2020, she was announced as the first member of Aespa, a group with a metaverse concept.