K-pop star Moonbin has died at the age of 25 years old. According to South Korea’s media report, he was found unresponsive by his manager at his apartment in Seoul on Wednesday night.
“He appears to have taken his own life but an autopsy is being reviewed to determine the exact cause of death,” police said.
Moonbin’s label Fantiago in a statement said he “unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky”.
Moonbin entered the entertainment industry as a kid in the 2000s, as an actor and model. He had his acting debut in 2009 when as an 11-year-old, he starred in the popular Korean drama series Boys Over Flowers. At 18 years, he joined the famous boy band Astro in 2016.
Moonbin is part of the K-pop stars which is very popular in Korea.
Speaking on the intense demands and stress Kpop stars such as Moonbin face, Rob Schwartz, an Asia correspondent for Billboard Magazine said;
“It’s crazy how they have these guys under a microscope. Certainly, stars in the West can more or less keep who they’re dating a secret. In the K-pop world, it’s impossible to keep a secret. Every time they lift a foot, thousands of lines are written about it.”
“K-pop artists don’t really have a life outside being a pop star. They start training at a very young age. They don’t go to school or make regular friends. It’s really hard for them to see life outside the K-pop world.”
Before his death, Moonbin had been performing with another Astro member Sanha in a duo, since 2020. Moonbin & Sanha had been in a world tour, and their last performance was in Bangkok on 8 April.
The label Fantiago requested all Astro’s members come to Seoul on Thursday for Moonbin’s wake keep, while urging people to against speculative and malicious reports, so that Moonbin’s family could pay their respects in peace.
Moonbin joined Fantagio’s trainee program as a child before eventually joining Astro. The group originally had six member performers, but one member left in February 2023.
According to a Korean broadcaster SBS, Moonbin had revealed to fans that he had been going through a difficult time. He made the statement at a concert while on the “Diffusion” tour with Sanha to promote the duo’s latest EP record.
“I want to confess one thing, I’m actually feeling really bad. There might have been a lot of signs from which people could notice since the concert started, so I’m also very sorry to you guys.”
“I’m working out and trying to pick up things that I’ve left little by little. I chose this job so I need to be happy so that I can make fans happy as well,” he said in a live broadcast”.
South Korea ranks amongst the developed countries with the highest rate of youth suicide. Although its overall suicide rate is falling, the deaths of those in their 20s are rising. The K-pop industry alone has seen four suicides in recent years.
In 2019, Goo Hara was found dead in her home in Seoul. Her close friend, K-pop star Sulli, also killed herself after a long struggle with online bullying in the same year. In 2018, Minwoo of boy band 100% died at home, with his label only saying he had suffered cardiac arrest. Jonghyun, the lead singer of SHINee, one of South Korea’s biggest boy bands also died in 2017.
