K-pop deaths of Goo Hara, Sulli and Jonghyun leave industry with blood on its hands

To have three celebrities from the same industry, in the same country, die in less than two years shows that something has gone tragically wrong

Pressure placed on singers and performers by K-pop industry, and lack of mental health support, has reaped a devastating cost

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The tragic death of K-pop star Goo Hara highlights the immense pressure felt by Korean stars, and that much more support could be given to them by the K-pop music industry.

Adam Wright

Adam joined the Post in 1997 and worked in various roles before becoming entertainment editor in 2004.

Published: 6:30am, 26 Nov 2019Updated: 1:13pm, 18 Feb 2020

It’s time to admit it: something is rotten in the world of K-pop.

On Sunday, singer Goo Hara, 28, was found dead in her home in Seoul six months after she survived what is believed to be her first suicide attempt. Her death came just six weeks after Sulli – another K-pop star and Goo’s close friend – took her own life aged 25 after a long battle with online bullies.

The spate of K-pop suicides started almost two years ago when Kim Jong-hyun, better known as Jonghyun from top boy band Shinee, killed himself in December 2017 at the age of 27.

The trio are of course not the first music icons to commit suicide – Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain famously died by his own hand in 1994, and more recently we have seen the death by suicide of The Prodigy’s Keith Flint (March this year) and Chester Bennington from Linkin Park (July 2017).

But to have three celebrities from the same industry, in the same country, die in the space of less than two years indicates that something has gone tragically wrong in K-pop.