Yuni Dies In Apparent Suicide

In late January, 26-year-old Korean pop singer Yuni was found dead of an apparent suicide at her home in Incheon. Her grandmother discovered her body hanging from a bar in her closet with a waistband around her neck.

Yuni’s parents told police that the singer had been depressed lately. She was about to release her third album after a two-year hiatus, and some believe the stress was too much.

Her parents blamed Korea’s vibrant Internet culture, where rumors and derogatory comments about celebrities are openly exchanged. Yuni entered show business as an actress and was quickly transformed into a dance pop singer complete with a sexy image.

Yuni’s is only the most recent of a number of high-profile suicides of show business celebrities in Korea.

Singers Seo Ji-won and Kim Kwang-seok killed themselves in 2006, and in 2005 Lee Eun-ju, one of the country’s most respected young actresses, hanged herself.

Last year, South Korea had the dubious distinction of recording the highest per capita suicide rate in the world.