The news has broken—yet another Korean celebrity has passed away, and all evidence points to suicide. Almost two years after singer Kim Jonghyun was found dead in his residence at 27 years of age, singer-actor Choi Sulli was discovered dead in her home. She was only 25.
Sulli debuted in the entertainment industry when she was 11, with a role in the drama The Ballad of Seodong. Four years later, she made her K-Pop debut with the SM group f(x), along with band mates Krystal, Amber, Victoria, and Luna. She also gained fame for her starring role in the teen drama To the Beautiful You, alongside fellow KPop star Choi Minho from the band SHINee. Incidentally, Minho was a bandmate of the late Jonghyun.
Throughout her entertainment career, Sulli became the target of unwarranted online hate. While this behaviour is not unusual from Korean netizens, it was certainly destructive. After years of malicious comments aimed at her relationship with an older rapper, her dressing sense, her Instagram pictures, and other malicious rumours spread online, she announced a hiatus from and subsequently left her band. However, the hate did not stop there. In 2017, her dilated pupils in the movie Real fueled baseless speculations about drug use. Her support for the no-bra movement in 2019 met with extreme backlash. Just a month ago, she accidentally exposed her breast on a livestream, causing controversy and accusations that she ‘did it for the attention’. In her last video online, she was seen listening to Harlem River, the lyrics of which go ‘Harlem River give me wings, put my head up in the clouds.’ Not surprisingly, she was ‘severely depressed’ at the time of her death, according to her manager.
Korean netizens have infamously made a name for themselves for the extent to which they affect the lives and careers of celebrities through their reactions. Korean fans tend to view the idols as their own, and demand that their expressions of love be devoted to their fan bases only. 2008 saw legendary group Girls Generation being subjected to a ‘black ocean’ (refusal to wave lightsticks or flashlights and staying silent) during their ten minute set at a K-Pop festival. The reason? They were thought to be getting ‘too close’ to their label mates Super Junior. Sungmin, previous member of Super Junior, was faced with extreme outrage from netizens because he had gotten married in 2014 without informing the public first. Because the backlash led to a drop in sales for Super Junior’s music, Sungmin eventually announced an extended hiatus (that has continued till date) in order to protect the group’s reputation. The same year, Baekhyun from EXO and Taeyeon from Girls Generation were rumoured to be dating. After they confirmed it, fans concluded that their relationship meant that they were spending less attention on their bands and their music. There were even demands that Baekhyun be removed from EXO, the situation ending with both parties having to publicly apologise for hurting their fans and not telling them sooner.
More recently, K-Pop veteran Hyuna made headlines by announcing that she had been dating label mate E’Dawn from Pentagon for two years. The news caught the public by storm, with fans expressing their ‘betrayal’ and abandoning an official fan club launch event for the subgroup TripleH, a trio comprising both of them and Pentagon member Hui. Almost immediately, CUBE Entertainment announced that both performers were being dropped by the label. Even though both Hyuna and E’Dawn were picked up by PSY for his own label, this instance shows that even in 2018, fans were not ready to let their idols prioritise anyone but their fanbase.
2018 also saw APink’s Naeun, who is also dubbed one of the “nation’s younger sisters”, being forced to delete an Instagram picture after backlash for ‘promoting a feminist agenda’. The picture featured her phone case with the phrase ‘Girls Can Do Anything.’ Meanwhile, fans allegedly burned photos and boycotted merchandise of Red Velvet’s leader Irene because she mentioned on social media that she was reading the book Kim Ji Young Born 1982, which critiques South Korea’s casual sexism. Major label JYP’s latest girl group ITZY debuted to successful numbers, but member Chaeryeong faced much online hate for her unconventional looks. It came to a point where her mother had to take to social media to admonish netizens for being so harsh with her child. ‘You are judging a 19-year-old girl for just her face’ said the caption. ‘You do not have to like her, but just don’t hurt my child. I beg you.’
These stories have definitely been reported in the media before, but there is a certain gravity that comes with listing them one after the other. While agencies are stepping up their game and threatening legal action against malicious commenters, one must wonder if it is little too late. The overwhelming majority of KPop idols are in their teens when they debut, exposing them very early on to the barrage of everything that fame has to offer. When coupled with exhausting practices, tightly packed schedules, and the clearly stifling society that they are expected to thrive in, it is no wonder that many of them struggle with their mental health. Mina from the girl group TWICE is currently sitting out promotions of their latest album to work on her anxiety disorder. Girls Generation’s Taeyeon has publicly spoken out several times about her own battles with depression. Solo artist IU talked to her fans during her concert about her issues with depression and insomnia. Unfortunately, those who seek help are few. According to the OECD data, South Korea has the second largest suicide rate in the world. According to government statistics, one in four South Koreans struggles with a mental health disorder at least once throughout their life. Sadly, the statistics also show that only one in 10 people will go seek some kind of professional help (borgenproject.org).
There is no doubt about it—Sulli’s passing is nothing less than a blaring red alert to the South Korean entertainment machine about the health of their stars. One can only hope that there never needs to be a wakeup call as heart-breaking as this ever again.