Suicide in Korea

[Chimera]

Choi-Jin-Sil

 

I had a conversation with Cindy. We talked about the Internet and entertainment business in Asia. A famous actress, Choi-Jin-Sil, committed suicide, in South Korea last month. Many South Korean celebrities have been under psychological depression and have committed suicide during the past two years. This phenomenon may stimulate more suicides. Moreover, South Korean society is facing the highest suicide rate in the world. What caused Choi’s suicide? The Internet.

 

Choi, a 39-year-old actress, was a national sweetheart in South Korea. After the death of her friend,actor Ahn Jae-hwan, a rumor spread out on the Internet. It said that Ahn Jae-hwan was driven to suicide because Choi had pressed him to repay a $2 million debt cruelly. Because of the advanced Internet technology in South Korea, the rumor was spread quickly. Bloggers criticized her about her personal life, loan and divorce. She bore the huge pressure and suffered from depression. Finally she broke down and ended her life.

 

The South Korea media linked the incident to web slander. Most South Korean news websites allow anonymous comments. Those comments are rarely managed and moderated. Choi spent a lot of time reading the comments, even though some of them are unworthy to be read. She cared about others’ opinions about her and said, “I’m worried that my audience doesn’t like me anymore.” Therefore the tragedy happened. Moreover, the suicide rate in South Korea has increased due to the death of celebrities.

 

South Korean is society debating an Internet slander law. The governing party is promoting a law to restrict web slander. It plans to add a system for identity, which means every user would have to verify his/her identity before posting any comments on major websites. The opposition considers this a martial law that tries to control the cyber world. I think the Internet slander law is an excessive method to control cyberspace. It may offend privacy and reduce people’s talk on the Internet. Monitoring is a possible way to reduce strong negative messages now. But it needs too much effort from the government. How can a social media balance between a good and a bad will?

 

Overall, people are still talking on the Internet. Knowing what to learn from the groundswell or just ignore it, is a worthy lesson for us.

 

http://aiko0324.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/a-celebritys-suicide-and-internet-rurmors/

[Chimera]

What drove Park Yong Ha to commit suicide?

 

Park Yong Ha

 

Although several hour have passed since Park Yong Ha’s death, but questions still remained unsolved: what drove Park Yong Ha to commit suicide?

 

Many acquaintances of the actor have all claimed that they do not know the reason of Park Yong Ha’s death, as he’s been acting like normal for the past few days. But it isn’t what it seems beneath the surface.

 

After further investigations, it’s been revealed that Park Yong Ha has had difficult times because of his ill father. His father has been suffering stomach cancer for a long period of time, and was told recently that it was in a terminal stage. A friend of Park Yong Ha claims, “After learning that his father had cancer, Yong Ha brought his father home and cared for him. He always worried about his father. He also said that he will be focusing on caring for his father for a while.”

 

Park Yong Ha’s failure in business also seems to be another reason for his suicide. Right before appearing on On Air (drama), he became independent from his ex-agency, and established his own company, with his father as the company’s president. According to a family acquaintance, running the business was not an easy task for them. A manager in the company made a financial mistake after getting various loans, causing the agency a huge loss. To make matters worse, Park Yong Ha’s father was left with a huge debt after mistakenly co-signing someone else’s loan. To contribute to the financial difficulty of the family, Park Yong Ha had even recently consulted a used car dealer to sell his car.

 

Park Yong Ha was also revealed to have been suffering from insomnia for 14 years, because of depression. He confessed on his Twitter a while back that he had been relying on sleeping pills for a long time, making his fans worry about his health. The actor also shared on a program that his rising fame as a Hallyu star caused him to undergo depression from a sense of shame.

 

Spokepersons from the hospital and police station have confirmed that no suicide note was left behind. The police have registered it as being an unnatural death and that a variety of reasons (listed above) probably led Park Yong Ha to choose suicide. Upon his family request, no autopsy will be performed and a traditional Buddhist funeral will be held for Park Yong Ha on July 2nd at 8am.

 

http://en.korea.com/blog/enter/movie/what-drove-park-yong-ha-to-commit-suicide/

[Chimera]

Woo Seung Yeon

 

Newbie actress Woo Seung Yeon (24) was found hung by her family on the 27th. The death is being ruled as suicide and the police have released the statement “Although there is no will found, before her death, she sent a text message to her younger sibling saying ‘I’m sorry.’” She is known to have been suffering from depression after failing an audition and breaking up with a long time boyfriend. A family member revealed that she had received treatment at a hospital for her depression, but it had worsened in recent weeks and caused her to commit suicide.

 

Woo Seung-yeon started off as an internet uljjang, before modeling, and had even branched out into acting, appearing in the movie Herb and the mobile sitcom Yap. Her most recent role was in the movie Private Eye, which was released earlier this month. She was born in 1985 and was planning to return to return to her school, Joong Ang University where she was majoring in French Language & Culture.

 

In addition, her cyworld is getting attention as it was revealed that she wrote a message titled “Good-bye” on the 25th and had changed her background music to Toy’s Sorry and Time Alone. Because the guest book function on her cyworld is closed, netizens have left their condolences through comments under her picture uploads.

http://www.allkpop.com/2009/04/newbie_actress_woo_seung_yeon_commits_suicide

[Chimera]

Ex-S. Korean president jumps to his death

 

 

SEOUL, South Korea — Embattled former President Roh Moo-hyun — a reformist shamed by a corruption scandal that tarnished his image as a "clean" politician — jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in South Korea, his lawyer said. He was 62.

 

Roh was hiking in Bongha village when he threw himself off a steep cliff around 6:40 a.m. Saturday, lawyer Moon Jae-in told reporters in the southern city of Busan. He said Roh left a suicide note.

 

"Too many people are suffering because of me," he wrote, according to South Korean media.

 

Roh was declared dead from a head injury, officials at Busan National University Hospital said.

 

Roh, a self-taught lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation's highest office, prided himself on his clean record in a country with a long history of corruption. He served as president from 2003 to 2008.

 

But he and his family have been ensnared in recent weeks in a burgeoning bribery scandal.

 

'Utterly shocked'

 

The suicide — the first by a South Korean leader — stunned the nation. South Koreans huddled around TV screens at Seoul's main train station and elsewhere watching news broadcasts.

 

"I was utterly shocked," said Chun Soon-im, 63, of Seoul. "They say 'hate the sin but not the sinner,' and that's how I feel. The investigation must continue and we must get to the truth, but I cannot help feeling sorry for the man and those left behind."

 

Last month, state prosecutors questioned Roh for some 13 hours about allegations that he accepted more than $6 million in bribes from a South Korean businessman while in office — accusations that deeply shamed him.

 

"I have no face to show to the people. I am sorry for disappointing you," an emotional Roh said April 30 before speaking to prosecutors.

 

He denied the allegations against him during questioning, prosecution spokesman Cho Eun-sok said.

 

Roh had acknowledged that local shoe manufacturer Park Yeon-cha gave his wife $1 million, but suggested it was not a bribe. He also said he was aware Park gave $5 million to another relative but said he thought it was an investment. Prosecutors suspect the $6 million was eventually conveyed to Roh.

 

Several of Roh's former aides and associates have also been investigated on suspicion of taking money from Park, who was indicted in December on separate bribery and tax evasion charges. Roh's elder brother was sentenced last week to four years in prison in another bribery scandal.

 

Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han, expressing "surprise and grief," declared the investigation into Roh closed. Roh supporters and aides have claimed the probe was politically motivated by conservative opponents.

 

President Lee Myung-bak said Roh's "sad and tragic" death was "truly hard to believe," spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

 

'Burden to others'

 

Roh — who after leaving office moved back to his hometown of Gimhae, some 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Seoul — went for a walk in the mountains behind his house. He was accompanied by a security guard, Busan police said.

 

Part way up, Roh hurled himself off a 100-foot (30-meter) -high cliff known as Owl's Rock, the Yonhap news agency said. Police said they were still investigating the circumstances of Roh's death.

 

"What's left for me for the rest of my life is just to be a burden to others," he said in his note, according to media reports. "Don't be saddened too much. Aren't life and death all a fragment of nature? Don't feel sorry. Don't blame anybody. It's destiny."

 

Roh, thought to be in good health, hinted in the suicide note that stress had taken its toll, saying it was hard for him to even read and write. He asked to be cremated and a small gravestone erected near his home, the reports said.

 

advertisement | ad info Advertisement | ad infoAdvertisement | ad info.Busan police said they could not confirm the contents of the note.

Roh's death was a tragic end for the son of farmers who never attended college but managed to pass the country's bar exam in 1975 by teaching himself law.

 

He built his reputation defending students accused of sedition under previous military-backed administrations, and once was arrested and his law license suspended for supporting an outlawed labor protest.

 

His political career took off with his election as a liberal lawmaker to the National Assembly in 1988. Roh's ascension to the presidency came in a surprise 2002 election win on a campaign pledge not to "kowtow" to the United States, a pledge that resonated with young voters.

 

He maintained predecessor President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy" of offering North Korea aid as way to facilitate reconciliation, holding a summit in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2007, the second such meeting between leaders of the two countries that technically remain at war.

 

Though criticized as standoffish and confrontational by some, he was praised by others as a candid leader who cared for the underprivileged and fought against corruption. Roh was the first South Korean president with an Internet fan club; supporters flooded Roh's Web site Saturday with condolences.

 

But in 2004, Roh urged voters to support candidates from his Uri Party — a violation of political neutrality laws. He became the first South Korean president impeached over the violation, but was reinstated several months later after a court ruled against the impeachment.

 

"He shocked us twice: first, by betraying our trust in him as the keeper of justice when it was revealed that he'd received the illegitimate money; now, in showing that he was not even responsible enough to face the consequences of his action," said Kim Hye-jung, 35, of Seoul. "As a supporter of the values he stood for, I feel greatly let down."

 

Roh is survived by his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, son Ron Gun-ho and daughter Roh Jeong-yeon. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30894701/

[Chimera]

Samsung chairman's daughter found to have committed suicide

 

Lee Yoon Hyung

 

SEOUL/NEW YORK, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- The youngest daughter of Lee Kun-hee, chairman of South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung Group, took her own life last week, and did not die from a car accident as previously reported, a Samsung official confirmed Saturday. "We missed an opportunity to explain it as the media broke the story first," the official said on condition of anonymity, noting that the company found out about her suicide after its own investigation.

 

Initially, the North American headquarters of Samsung Electronics Co. told the press on Monday that she had had a car accident and was "medically dead."

 

But Lee Yoon-hyung, 26, was actually found last Friday to have hanged herself in her residence near New York University where she was studying, according to an informed source. It was not immediately known whether she left a suicide note.

 

"As far as I know, Yoon-hyung, who was cheerful and lively in Korea, felt very lonely in the U.S. Her suicide is closely associated with her not getting used to studying alone abroad," the official said, asking to remain anonymous.

 

Unlike the chairman's other children, who tend to keep a low profile, Lee's third daughter received public and media attention on several occasions, such as when she opened a personal Web page in 2003.

 

But she suffered from severe depression during her stay in the U.S. after a plan to marry her Korean boyfriend was opposed by her parents, the source said. They broke up before she left for the U.S. in September.

 

"We inquired about whether there was any report presumed to be her car accident in New York and nearby New Jersey. But the answer was no," a South Korean official at the Korean Consulate General in New York said, asking to remain anonymous.

 

Samsung Chairman Lee has been staying in the United States since late September for medical examinations, but he and his wife did not attend her funeral. Only by a small number of immediate family members were on hand.

 

Lee's family members, including the chairman's only son Jay-yong, had gone to the hospital and confirmed her death.

 

The news is the latest in a series of unfortunate developments for the business group and its owning family.

 

The claimed purpose of the Samsung chairman's U.S. sojourn was to receive a checkup at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he underwent surgery for lung cancer in 2000.

 

But observers in South Korea believe Lee may have in fact fled the country since he was suspected of corruption and bribery in connection with the presidential election and business deals.

 

The 64-year-old is suspected of ordering subordinates to funnel large sums of illegal donations to presidential candidates in 1997, and of ordering a hostile takeover of then-troubled Kia Motors Corp. in violation of the Fair Trade Act.

 

His son Jay-yong and other children also face prosecution investigation following an October ruling by a Seoul district court that found two Samsung executives guilty of arranging an illicit transfer of the chairman's wealth to his children.

 

The Samsung chairman reportedly left the Houston medical center in late September, but his whereabouts are currently unknown.

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1528743/posts

[Chimera]

What a pity, such a beautiful girl:

 

Korean Boys Before Flowers Actress Commits Suicide

 

 

It was another setback and a major one for Boys Before Flowers as one of the actresses, Jang Ja Yun (27) who plays Sunny in the drama and makes life difficult for Jandi as part of the JinSunMi trio was found to have committed suicide in her Bundang home today.

 

According to local police who confirmed the suicide, " Jang Ja Yun was found to have committed suicide in her own home today. She was discovered at around 7.34pm by her sister who then called the police. We are now investigating the case and will give further updates like the reason, her will (if any), etc at a later time." The police also revealed that her approximate time of death was around 4.30pm and that she had hung herself.

 

Friends who knew Jang Ja Yun was shocked by her suicide and expressed, "She had a passion for acting and loved it very much. She was very much a extrovert and we never really expected that she would commit suicide." Her sudden suicide has plunged the entire Boys Before Flowers into shock with the main cast of Lee Min Ho, Goo Hye Sun, etc unable to believe what they have heard after learning of the news from their respective companies.

 

Everyone involved with Boys Before Flowers will be paying their respects tomorrow morning at her wake after the morning session ends. According to someone at the filming site now, "We are still filming now (10pm, KST) and it was a big shock to receive this sad news suddenly. Why do all the bad things keep happening to Boys Before Flowers?"

 

Jang Ja Yun graduated from Chosun University and had made her debut through a Lotte Biscuit CF and was only starting out with her acting career. She still won a bit of popularity for her small role in Boys Before Flowers despite her late debut. But it's being reported that a dispute with her present management agency and a lack of time in Boys Before Flowers had left her feeling depressed and eventually causing her to choose the wrong path.

 

She only recently walked the red carpet at the recent 45th Baeksang Awards with the other 2 members of the JinSunMi trio, showing her excellent figure. She was also going to debut on the big screen with 2 upcoming movies and the future looked bright but her sudden suicide has left people feeling pity for her. What could possibly get worse from here on for Boys Before Flowers? Jang Ja Yun joins a lengthening list of Korean celebrities who have committed suicide in recent years. It's just a very sad situation overall

 

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/32908013.html

[FatB]

depressing place to be

[Chimera]

Are you kidding me? South Korea has to be one of the most pleasant places to live in, their civilization is truly flourishing. The average Korean simply doesn't fear death the way an American or a Pakistani would, because South Koreans are predominantly Atheists, so the question of ''Heaven & Hell'' that stops many depressed individuals from comitting suicide isn't a factor with them.

[Jacaylbaro]

Habluhu qurux badanaa ..........

[Chimera]

^Very beautiful indeed

 

Who killed U-Nee and Jung Da-Bin?

 

Lee Hye-ryeon & Jung Da Bin

 

The recent death of 2 of Korea’s rising young starlets, U-Nee and Jung Da Bin, has left everyone wondering why. We question why such beautiful young stars would end their own lives. In hopes of making sense out of the tragic situation, some blame the netizens, some blame the industry and others blame the stigma associated with depression treatment in S. Korea, but how accurate are their claims?

 

It was reported that netizen’s harsh criticisms fueled U-Nee and Jung Da Bin’s depression, which lead to their suicides, but doesn’t that come with the territory? Receiving both positive and negative comments about looks, fashion and lifestyle is a part of their glam careers and without public’s constant interest, stars wouldn’t be stars, they’ll be just one of us. Of course, I can’t imagine how much it hurt these girls when they saw their “before and after” pictures online and read nasty remarks about their facial features after their surgeries, but all celebs go through that.

 

There are hundreds of websites dedicated to exposing stars’ before pictures. You can find graduation, debut and even find baby pictures to check whether or not your favorite star is a “natural beauty” or a “plastic beauty.” The netizens did not single out these two actresses, in fact, they poke fun at all celebs because they are interested, and we all know that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Comedian Park Whee-Sun and announcer Kang Su Jung commented that no comment is more fearful than negative comments from netizens because it demonstrates lack of interest.

 

The relationship between stars and the public is a very delicate one and dumping all the blame on the netizens seem like a desperate attempt to make sense of U-Nee and Jung Da-Bin‘s suicides. The negative remarks probably made them feel bad but I doubt that they are solely responsible for their depression. Other circumstances prior to their deaths were probably more important and instead of jumping to conclusions or wrongly accusing one group of people, we will focus on understanding various circumstances they faced prior to their deaths in hopes of understanding their tragic decisions.

 

This is the beginning of our dialogue about U-Nee and Jung Da-Bin’s death and we would like to encourage all of our readers to contribute to make this discussion more valuable to everybody.

 

http://popreflections.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/what-happened-to-u-nee-and-jung-da-bin/

[Chimera]

Originally posted by Somali Psycho:

Choi-Jin-Sil

Her younger brother this year:

 

Choi Jin-young Dead in Apparent Suicide Monday

 

 

By Han Sang-hee

Staff Reporter

 

Choi Jin-young, the brother of the late actress Choi Jin-sil, was found dead of an apparent suicide, Monday. He was 39.

 

Choi was discovered hanging by police at his home in southern Seoul. He was rushed to the Gangnam Severance Hospital, but pronounced dead.

 

According to the hospital, Choi had red marks on his neck, but an autopsy would be needed to find a definitive cause of death.

 

Yonhap News Agency reported that the singer-actor had a dinner appointment for tonight according to a friend, who was at a loss to explain his death.

 

His death comes as a shock especially as his late sister, a popular actress, hung herself in a suicide Oct. 2, 2008.

 

Last month, he had said that he will go back to acting.

 

Choi started his acting career in 1993 in the popular drama "Our Heaven." His resemblance to his popular sister gave him a head start in his career, while his young image helped him gain recognition in various dramas, commercials and even films.

 

Choi's acting career floundered but in 1999, he returned to the stage as a singer using the name SKY. His first album "Final Fantasy" was a success with the popular number "Forever" topping music charts. He released his third and last album in 2004.

 

In 2007, he returned to acting with a supporting role in the drama "It's Okay to Love," but failed to catch much attention.

 

Photos of him in tears clutching his sister's picture shook the nation, and fans wept with him as he led her funeral procession. Acting upon his late sister's wishes, he belatedly enrolled in Hanyang University to study acting last year.

 

It was known that Choi had been suffering from depression and even tried to kill himself on his sister's birthday last year. He was sent to the hospital immediately and recovered after his previous attempt.

 

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/05/117_63223.html

[sheherazade]

adiga maxaa kugu watey all this suicide gathering? It's grim.

[Valenteenah.]

Holly crap! Has South Korea overtaken Japan in suicides?

[Chimera]

^

 

lol@US flag

[Muriidi]

for an ego-centric society every death is a suicide..