REUTERS
December 4, 2019 at 13:50 JST
SEOUL--South Korean actor Cha In-ha was found dead in his home, police said on Wednesday, the country's third young celebrity to die in the past two months amid growing debate about the intense social pressures artists face.
While South Korea's pop culture mostly projects a wholesome image on stage and screen, it has recently been marred by a series of untimely deaths and criminal cases that revealed a darker side of the industry.
A police official told Reuters Cha, 27, was found dead on Tuesday and that the cause of his death was not immediately known.
Cha, whose real name is Lee Jae-ho, made his film debut in 2017 and was previously a member of the five-member boy band Surprise U, which released two albums.
The singer-actor had left an Instagram post the day before he was found dead, telling his fans to take care in the cold winter.
His talent agency Fantagio in a statement expressed "the deepest mourning for his passing" and asked the public and the media to refrain from spreading stories about his death.
Cha's death comes after a K-pop singer, Goo Hara, 28, was found dead at her home last month. She had been subjected to personal attacks on social media.
Her death followed the apparent suicide of a fellow K-pop idol star, Sulli, a former member of girl group f(x), in October. Sulli, 25, had spoken out against cyber bullying.
The cases have cast a dark cloud over the K-pop craze, one of South Korea's most successful soft power exports, and brought a renewed focus on personal attacks and cyber bullying of young stars that goes largely unpunished.
The industry has also been hit by a series of sex scandals. Last week, two male former K-pop band members were convicted of sexual assaults and sentenced to prison terms.
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II