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One of the most famous friendships in K-pop is the '97 liner squad with BTS' Jung Kook, SEVENTEEN's Mingyu (with DK and THE8), ASTRO's Cha Eun-woo, GOT7's Yugyeom (and Bambam), and NCT's Jaehyun. While it is unclear how these illustrious people became close, the group has been spotted hanging out with each other several times. They are even part of a group chat, supposedly spearheaded by Jung Kook and Yugyeom.
It's no surprise, then, that the group often goes viral after their interactions with each other, causing fans of multiple K-pop groups to fawn over them. Netizens often joke that the '97 liners are the exception to the oft-repeated internet wisdom that "pretty" people cannot be good friends.
Dinner dates, festival reunions, and other times K-pop's '97 liners went viral
1) SEVENTEEN's Mingyu has dinner with BTS' Jung Kook and Cha Eun-woo
The most recent interaction between three of the '97 liners came to light when Mingyu posted a picture with Jung Kook and Cha Eun-woo on his personal Instagram, captioning it with:
"A good evening."
His post immediately went viral, with K-pop fans trending their names on Twitter. They were presumably celebrating the twenty-sixth birthday of SEVENTEEN's Mingyu, and the reunion caused reasonable excitement among netizens.
Owners of the restaurant later confirmed that the K-pop idols had indeed dined there. They even left their autographs, with the restaurant's Instagram sharing a picture of Jung Kook's autograph.
2) Another dinner date of the '97 liners with Stray Kids' Bang Chan and NCT's Jaehyun
Apart from the members already specified, the 1997-born K-pop stars seem very open to making new friends as well. While not a part of the original group, Stray Kids' leader, Bang Chan, seems close enough to dine with them, although no pictures of their hangouts have been made public yet. A Twitter post went viral on August 25, 2022, which included the autographs of Chan, Jaehyun, Jung Kook, and Cha Eun-woo.
Fans of Stray Kids took this as a confirmation that Bang Chan was also part of the '97z squad, espeically since he had not denied knowing its members on an earlier livestream.
3) Jung Kook posting a picture with his '97 liner besties on the official BTS Twitter account
While BTS' Jung Kook had mentioned his idol chingus (which means friends born in the same year in Korean) several times, this was the first time that he posted a picture of them on the group's official social media. This seems to include the first few entrants of the '97 liner group chat, i.e., BTS' Jung Kook, GOT7's Yugyeom, SEVENTEEN's Mingyu, and ASTRO's Cha Eun-woo.
The majority of the response was positive, with ARMY (fans of BTS) saying they were pleased to see that the Dreamers singer was spending quality time with his friends and felt comfortable enough to share snippets with fans.
4) A throwback shot of the 1997-born idols shared by GOT7's Bambam
After showcasing their chemistry to K-pop fans on a collaboration stage at the 2016 KBS Gayo Daechukjae (or KBS Song Festival), the '97 liners from BTS (Jung Kook), GOT7 (BamBam and Yugyeom), and SEVENTEEN (Mingyu, THE8, and DK), took a selca to commemorate the occasion.
While there is little known about other interactions between these members afterwards, the same sextet reunited for another selca in 2018 during the same event. BamBam posted the same on his Instagram account with the caption:
"I’m so happy to have (a) Friends like you guys /n Love you guys 97."
Needless to say, fans were excited to catch this reunion of the squad, with many comparing pictures between 2016 and 2018, saying that it seemed like the K-pop idols had all grown up.
Final thoughts
Apart from the above '97 liner squad interactions, the friends frequently mention each other, like GOT7's Yugyeom showing off the Cartier bracelet gifted by his friends during an interview with Elle Korea. The group also meets for dinner several times and tries to attend each other's concerts, as Jung Kook did when he went to SEVENTEEN's BE THE SUN Seoul Concert in June 2022.
Despite the ensuing fanwars and some hate received by the '97 liner squad, their friendship remains strong and is an example of the few longlasting friendships in the K-pop industry.
