WHAT. THE. HELL.

Following the suicide of actor Ahn Jae-hwan last month, following the suicide of Choi Jin-shil (whose death was related to accusations regarding her friend Ahn’s suicide) earlier this month, following the suicide of transgender entertainer Jang Chae-won just a day later, we have, sadly, yet another suicide.

On October 8, news was released of the suicide of model Kim Ji-hoo on October 6. Not many other details have been released, other than a police officer’s statement that this was indeed suicide (and not foul play).

Only 23, Kim Ji-hoo was a fashion model and actor, appearing on the MBC drama Before & After Plastic Surgery, family sitcom The Unstoppable High Kick, and tvN’s cable reality program Coming Out, where he came out as gay.

His body, found on the 7th, is currently at the hospital, with funeral services planned for the 9th.

UPDATE:
Apparently Kim Ji-hoo hanged himself in his room. While there was a recent header on his mini-hompy that said “In a little while, I’ll come to you in my next project!!” there were also postings that he put up on his message board on October 3 that displayed a downturn:

“Life is like the wind,” “What’s there to agonize over? Meetings are happy, partings are sad, everything is just a moment.”

He appeared on “Coming Out” and started being bombarded with hate replies on the Internet after coming out as gay.

Via Star News

RELATED POSTS

• Suicide of transgender Jang Chae-won belatedly revealed
• Choi Jin-shil’s death spurs talk of cyber slander laws
• More on Choi Jin-shil’s suicide
• Choi Jin-shil found dead, indicators point to suicide
• Mourning Ahn Jae-hwan
• Ahn Jae-hwan found dead in apparent suicide

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 90 Comments →

Jang Chae-won, pre- and post-op

Another suicide is now just coming to light, having been overshadowed by the suicide last Thursday of famous actress Choi Jin-shil. This time the victim is transgender entertainer Jang Chae-won, 26, who passed away at home on October 3.

Seoul police gave a statement on October 6, saying, “Jang Chae-won was found dead at home by friends, who made the report. We’ll have to investigate further before determining more details about the incident, but as of this moment there are no suspicions of foul play.”

Perhaps the signs were there in advance; apparently Jang had started posting messages on her personal homepage last month that went, “Will the end of my life be a comedy or a tragedy?” “Life is really tiresome,” and “I wish everything would go the way I wanted.” However, notable is that her message on October 1 was different in tone: “Right now I’m so happy~”

However, her last message posted on October 3 read, “Mom, I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.”

Jang Chae-won’s profile rose in 2004 when she appeared on SBS’s Truth Game television program as a man dressing as a woman, noted for being even prettier than many woman. Three years later, she took on a sex change operation and began to appear in the public eye once more.

This is really sad; I didn’t know much about her, but I do recall seeing her on TV back before her operation and thought she was really bright and cheerful.

Via Seoul Shinmun, Sport Seoul

RELATED POSTS

• Choi Jin-shil’s death spurs talk of cyber slander laws
• More on Choi Jin-shil’s suicide
• Choi Jin-shil found dead, indicators point to suicide

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 21 Comments →

“Last Scandal” co-star Jung Jun-ho, actress Choi Ji-woo

If there’s something to take away from the overwhelming attention and the number of entertainers who came to pay their final respects to deceased Choi Jin-shil, it’s that she was much-respected and much-loved by many colleagues over the entire length of her 20-year career.

People are also taking her death as a sign of needing to strengthen cyber slander laws, citing examples in the past where Internet slanderers were prosecuted and fined for defamatory postings. An article in the Joongang Daily (English language) states:

[D]efamation by spreading false rumors is subject to up to seven years in prison but most get away with fines.

According to the Supreme Court of Korea, only 2 percent of slanderers are actually prosecuted. However, the number of online slander cases has been on the rise, from 316 in 2005, to 350 in 2006, 403 in 2007 and 213 in the first half of this year….

However, opposition parties including the Democratic Party said this is an attempt to regulate cyberspace to eliminate anti-government postings. The DP said the ruling party is trying to “use the suicide incident politically.”

More stars pay respects to Choi Jin-shil >>

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 36 Comments →

This is all very sad, particularly because Choi Jin-shil seems to have been very depressed, but not to the extent that anybody around her could have foreseen such dire actions.

(Sports Chosun has a lovely collection of photos over the years chronicling Choi Jin-shil’s career.)

The police have ruled Choi’s death a suicide — while there has been no explicit suicide note found, her last words to friends seem to have hinted at her intention (although this is all seen in hindsight, of course). The medical examiner determined no external wounds, no sign of murder or foul play. A memo was found, which didn’t contain any concrete details indicating suicide, but showed that she was greatly affected by Ahn Jae-hwan’s death and the subsequent turmoil.

She was said to have expressed prior to her death: “I’m saddened at the people of this world. I don’t understand why they’d torment someone with accusations of moneylending or whatnot.”

Choi Su-jong, Jung Jun-ho

Friends and former co-stars are in shock; her co-star from the 1992 drama Jealousy, Choi Su-jong, “conveys his utmost condolences and grief.” Seeing some hateful replies online that were posted in response to the news of her death, he deplored, “How can anyone act like this?”

Apparently the day before her death, Choi had spoken to her Last Scandal co-star Jung Jun-ho over the phone and told him, “What’s wrong with this world?” When it was falsely circulated that she’d lent Ahn Jae-hwan money (she’s a good friend of his widow), leading to his suicide, some people even called her a ruthless loan shark and implied she had a role in his murder. (The murder rumors are spurious and unfounded.)

[Read more →]

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 82 Comments →

The beautiful and talented Choi Jin-shil (age 40, most recently of The Last Scandal of My Life) has been found dead in her home in Seoul.

According to police, her body was discovered at 6:15 am on October 2 and the reasons for her passing are under investigation.

Police said, “We received a report that Ms. Choi had committed suicide and arrived to confirm her death.”

Another officer: “This morning, we received a report from her family that she had hanged herself in the shower stall.”

Choi had recently gone through some rough times supporting her friend Jung Sun-hee, widow of deceased Ahn Jae-hwan, and had battled rumors making the recent rounds that said she supposedly had lent him money, which she roundly denied. But what a shock — following a messy divorce with baseball player Jo Sung-min, her two small children, ages 5 and 7, were under her sole care. Note: this is very new information, so reports are bound to change in the coming days.

OMG.

Via Joy News

RELATED POSTS

• Extending the Choi family line
• The Last Scandal of My Life

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 130 Comments →