Actor Park Yong-ha's demise sparks wave of suicides?

[ayamefan13.livejournal.com]

SEOUL : Just a day after popular Korean actor-singer Park Yong-ha hung himself, singer Roh Jin-woo from rock band Lazybone attempted to off himself by jumping into the Han river but survived when the police rescued him, reported Chinese media.

According to a police statement, Roh, 31, said he was "suffering from depression" and started having "suicidal thoughts" after hearing of the "Winter Sonata" actor's demise on June 30.

However, Roh's manager claimed that the singer was simply drunk at the time and accidentally fell into the river.

Roh may have survived this incident but a 40-year-old female owner of a Korean production house was not so lucky.

She apparently hung herself with a belt at home on July 1, leaving behind a suicide note that read "I am sorry mother!"

Another 49-year-old woman had also hung herself on that same day. After examining her suicide note, police have expressed that the woman, who was a fan of Park, may have taken her own life to follow her idol.

Park was the latest of a number of entertainers to kill themselves. They include top movie actress Lee Eun-Joo, who committed suicide in 2005, and Choi Jin-Sil who died in 2008.

Suicide is the highest cause of death among those in their twenties and thirties in South Korea, which in 2007 had the highest suicide rate among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The health ministry said 23.9 in every 100,000 South Koreans committed suicide in 2007, compared with 19.4 in Japan, 16.7 in Finland, 14.2 in France and 14.0 in Switzerland.

source; Channel NewsAsia

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Comments

[baboboy.livejournal.com]

knew this would happen ):

[bitter-sweet05.livejournal.com]

*hanged in substitute for every 'hung' in there.

These numbers are always so depressingly high.


Ugh I can spell at 2.30am. I promise.

[okdubu.livejournal.com]

no no no not again!

[supersonicjaz.livejournal.com]

Another 49-year-old woman had also hung herself on that same day. After examining her suicide note, police have expressed that the woman, who was a fan of Park, may have taken her own life to follow her idol.
O.o

[sapphira26.livejournal.com]

IKR that's just scary.

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

She says she was having suicidal thoughts yet her manager is all "she was just drunk".

[shonen-key.livejournal.com]

that line disturbs me a lot D:

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

oh for fuck sakes now. Seriously Korea you know you have a huge problem on your hands, why does this continued to be brushed under the table. The Health Ministry really needs to get it's priorities straight and start actively promoting for people to seek help. Create helplines, make advertisements just do something already.

[michiyo-mori.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[crinkledpaper.livejournal.com]

Ugh, this is so sad. :(

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

Fuck

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

and hate to be a grammar nazi with this but since this is a journalistic piece.... felt like correcting this part.

hanged=for people.
hung= for objectives.

[bitter-sweet05.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. Good god I'm glad I wasn't the only one to go "...errrrrr." over that.

[atiqah-erlina.livejournal.com]

this is depressing, like, i'd just die *emotionally, of course* if one of my idols committed suicide?

[teukiie.livejournal.com]

I remember last year when people said those unknown stars who started committing suicide just did it to "copy" big stars who had done so.

Suicide isn't a competition -.-

[black-silver.livejournal.com]

wow that's an insensitive comment
*i meant about the copying, not your actual comment haha

O_____O oh people

[queefing.livejournal.com]

i get sucide but i dont get copycat sucides.

when will the korean government stop twiddling their dicks thumbs and address their high rate of suicide on a societal level? or are they proud to be #1 in whatever respect they can take? ...koreans seem to have a pretty cavalier towards suicide in general... or at least their netizens do.

[joabear.livejournal.com]

Lazybone..... i dance to your song in Pump It Up Zero machines a lot....... i never thought i'd see this name in omona and in a suicide post too.....

[howla.livejournal.com]

Suicide is the highest cause of death among those in their twenties and thirties in South Korea, which in 2007 had the highest suicide rate among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

There's something really wrong with this statement.

[greenteafroyo.livejournal.com]

There's something really wrong with the fact that Korea's not doing anything to prevent more suicides.

[veggiesub-86.livejournal.com]

stop sweeping it under the rug ffs.

[greenteafroyo.livejournal.com]

The Korean pride really needs to be shelved for the own good of the country :l admit it, suicide is a really huge problem now.

[cher-ex3.livejournal.com]

IA.

[paopuremix.livejournal.com]

This makes me sad :(

RIP to the two who passed away.

[jongina.livejournal.com]

goosebumps. this is just so sad. :(

[ari-meh.livejournal.com]

they are so quick to dismiss it...
the problem won't go away no matter how good you hide it.

[brailleun.livejournal.com]

...lol Finland.

Ahem. :|| Sucks if people kill themselves because their idol killed him/herself. There's gotta be something more wrong than just feeling sad over idol.

And that manager... :|| If people think it that way, there's never going to be drop in their suicide rates.

[spunspider.livejournal.com]

i doubt the manager was dismissing the guy's suicidal thoughts as drunk dramatics, he probably just wanted to let him rest in peace. then again, what do i know. korea needs to rethink a lot of priorities. societal taboos have a lot to answer for.

[shadowfax.livejournal.com]

werther effect :C

[p3rk3le.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this has anything to do with lack of religion. Countries that are not dedicated to one are most affected right? Not that I'm an extremely religious person, but I was born with one, and Greece really doesnt have suicidal problems, so I wonder...

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

huh? Religion or lack of it isn't part of the problem. Korea is become more and more Christianized everyday. If you look at China, they're largely secular but has never surpassed the rate of suicide that Korea and Japan has even when they were at their lowest point despite the fact that their population is triple the size of both countries. For countries like Korea, Japan, Finland, etc to surpass a country like China in suicides screams things such as mental illness, suicide, and depression needs to start being openly discussed and not viewed as a social pariah.

This is about changing the culture and the mindset of people that suicides is not the only answer.

[peachywink.livejournal.com]

"Suicide is the highest cause of death among those in their twenties and thirties"
that's really horrible. They really need to invest more in promoting mental health medicine.

[misuslovett.livejournal.com]

oh god you'd think people would've maybe taken this as an example to seek help if they are having problems, not to off themselves :( :(

but jesus christ the manager claiming she was drunk and "fell" in the river, wtf.