She rose to fame in 2015 as a member of the South Korean girl group GFriend and became known for her vocals, having participated in various singing competitions.

Her chart-topping duet song "Spring Is Gone by Chance" for the television series A Girl Who Sees Smells soundtrack won Best OST at the 2015 Melon Music Awards.

[5] After graduating from the School of Performing Arts Seoul,[6] Yuju enrolled at Sungshin Women's University to study Contemporary Practical Music.

[11][12] Concurrently, Yuju showcased her vocal improvement at music events, winning the Gyeonggi Arts Festival excellence award and grand prize in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

[13] After leaving LOEN, Yuju won gold in the solo category of the 2013 Dong-A Student Song Festival, a nationwide[14] competition.

[5] In April 2015, Yuju and Loco released "Spring Is Gone by Chance" for the soundtrack of South Korean television drama A Girl Who Sees Smells.

[23] In July 2015, Yuju drew interest on MBC's King of Mask Singer for her singing prowess as the youngest contestant at the time.

[24][25] During the promotions of the song, a fan-taken video of members falling eight times while performing on a slippery stage went viral, gaining international attention.

[26][27][28][29] The event boosted the group's popularity, and Gfriend continued to see commercial success as their next song "Rough" won 15 times on music show programs.

[32] In October 2017, Yuju and Wheesung were declared as the final winners of SBS' Fantastic Duo 2 stars special, performing their winning piece "Even Thought of Marriage".

[41] On November 24, Yuju released a remake of Jo Sung-mo's "By Your Side", a Lovers in Paris soundtrack hit, as part of the "Cyworld BGM 2021" project.

[43] In July 2022, music production and publishing company MZMC Inc. Korea shared that Yuju joined the team, having written Yurina Kawaguchi's "Look at Me" Korean version lyrics.

[53] In early 2025, Yuju participated in GFriend's tenth anniversary reunion, which included the single album Season of Memories and concert tour.

For her solo activities, she worked on developing other aspects of her singing ability, focusing on delivering lyrics in a relatable way, rather than vocal range.