Yabuki Nako On Her Body Image Struggles As One Of K-Pop’s Shortest Idols

From the outside looking in, idols may seem like pure perfection from head to toe. However, that doesn’t mean many of them don’t suffer from body image struggles just like the rest of us. One such idol was former IZ*ONE member and HKT48 J-Pop star Yabuki Nako, who opened up about her issues with body image in an interview with Yahoo! News Voice.

During her time with IZ*ONE, the youngest members, Jang Wonyoung and Ahn Yujin, always had a reputation for being surprisingly tall. Jang Wonyoung was listed at 173cm while Ahn Yujin was listed at 172 cm.

Yujin (left) and Wonyoung (right) | Maeil Business Newspaper

Many of their fellow group members, however, were a lot shorter—particularly Nako. When she joined IZ*ONE, her official height was 149cm (4 feet 11 inches), making her over 20 centimeters (8 inches) shorter than Wonyoung and Yujin, and 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) shorter than the average South Korean woman.

Former IZ*ONE’s Wonyoung (left) and Nako (right)

And, while most IZ*ONE fans paid no mind to Nako’s height, the star herself didn’t always have an easy time with it. “I was worried about my short stature,” she explained, adding, “there weren’t many Korean idol groups who were short.” Nako was, in fact, considered the shortest female K-Pop idol during her time in IZ*ONE.

IZ*ONE | Off The Record Entertainment

Nako went on to say that because of her height, she was worried she would affect the group’s image while dancing. “To be honest,” she says, “I was always worried about what to do.”

But thankfully, Nako had to support of her fellow IZ*ONE members to help her through. The star revealed, “The Korean members said, ‘I never notice your height when you’re dancing.’” On top of that, they told Nako, “You’re so cute, even when you’re just breathing,” and “I’m grateful to have you here.”

I’ve never forgotten that. It made me feel more confident.

— Nako

Ultimately, irrespective of her height, Nako went on to become a star K-Pop performer, much loved by fans around the world.