APink was born because Hong Yukyung, a scion of a steel making family, and her family provided initial funding.
Her family was rich, worth collectively $1 billion, and she had inherited some shares but the family had a few siblings and she was a child of one of them, so her family's share was way short of $ 1 billion and the family did not belong to the top echelon of chaebols in Korea.
The other members were from average families. Son Naeun was a bit more affluent, and the families of others were nothing special.
But the guy running APink introduced Jung Eunji, who was from a certifiable working class family.
Yukyung left after a year or so of girl group life. She returned to her class, and after that not much is heard about her. Ironically Jung Eunji appears to be the only member Yukyung maintained contact. Jung Eunji has something to please people who come from significantly wealthier background than her; she is also friends with Shim Soyoung, a model from an affluent family, and Lee Seyoung, an actress whose family is also said to be from a wealthier family.
Yukyung's case showed that people from wealthier families do not really mix into the rigors of idol life. Of course there is the example of Sharon Myoui, whose mother WARNED to not talk too much with Minatozaki Sana who spoke the bases of Osaka dialect, spoken by the lowest social class there, but since she was an American it might have been a different story.
With rumored stories about Chaebols debuting as idols. I wonder whether they can endure the heavy schedules of KPop idols and all the discomforts, as well as the envy of other group members who will rather be happy to not have the chaebol member, like the APink members (other than Jung Eunji, whose class difference was so big from Yukyung that Y had no need to fear Eunji) 13 years ago.
