2023 Drama Roundup
27 – A moment of silence for Lee Sun-kyun

I can’t imagine how much he must have been hurting. My heart goes out to his wife and kids. Take care of yourselves, Beanies.
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    This is terrible. The all out punitive approach to the use of prohibited drugs is catastrophic. In a country with high suicide rates, it is a further reason for policy-makers to target drug cartels and their distribution pathways rather than users.

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      I’d like to see them add decent mental health care without stigma (still waiting for that here tbh), and an acknowledgment that alcohol is a legal drug.

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    In a society such as South Korea’s wherein fame, appearances, reputation, and superficiality is everything and public opinion is super heavy in their court of law, he basically got persecuted even before he got his chance of an actual trial in an actual court and was already given his sentence by the public outside of court. For him to think and feel that this was his only option and only way out, I can’t imagine what his mental health would have been like and what he must have been going through that was most likely not reported nor shared in all the articles and reportings about this entire case, and there were a lot of reports and articles

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      Why wasn’t he offered counseling surely the authorities knew the kind of stress he was under. It wrenches my heart that all his hard work throughout his life, the future lives of his wife and kids will all be under this black cloud of unnamed guilt. It is so sad. Even if “guilty” of drug consumption, he needed help not this kind of mindless persecution. Surely there were warning signs, why weren’t the authorities more attentive, sympathetic and understanding. I can’t even imagine the kind of torture he must be under to think that this was the only way.

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        Or maybe he did cry out for help—surely and hopefully offered resources from his legal counsel, at least? I’m posing the question rhetorically— and maybe no one answered. Makes me think of Jonghyun who cried out for help— had it tattooed on his body and even sought it professionally— but never got it, the help. I’m being presumptuous, but even if or when he sought help from the authorities, it’s possible they thought that it wasn’t under their jurisdiction nor expertise, so they might have left it and hoped that he was able to go to the right people to seek help. It’s also possible they thought he’d “get over it” because “there’s nothing that money can’t solve”, since he’s a celebrity…. There’s just so many possibilities and so many different moving parts, it’s all hard to tell— we can only guess, and ultimately, only he will ever know.

        As for his wife and children, I fear for their future as well. I fear for their future in the sense that “guilt by association” is also a very prominent part of South Korea’s society, and if the public has already deemed LSK guilty even without the court of law, then it’s going to be very difficult for them even in addition to the added heartbreak of now having lost a husband and a father

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          Words from My Ajhusshi and Coffee Prince spoken by Lee Sun Kyun in his unique voice and with his brilliant expressions have been my solace and given me strength and hope during many many dark days. I cannot believe that those same words didn’t touch him as a person in some way.
          We may not know if he reached out for help or if he received it or not but it seems that the words of comfort or understanding were not enough to reach him in the dark place where he found himself to be.
          Life is tough and tragic. I hope all those who find themselves alone and helpless also find words of solace and consolation which allow them to still live on, as our K-dramas teach us.

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