- Wang Fan, Yuna Ku
- From Singapore and Seoul
image source,Getty Images
Moon Bin (right) is a member of boy group ASTRO.
The death of K-pop star Moonbin has shocked music fans around the world – and has once again shone the spotlight on the pressures these entertainers face.
The 25-year-old member of the South Korean male singing group “ASTRO” is a singer, actor and model. He passed away suddenly during a two-person world tour with another “ASTRO” member, Yoon Sanha (Sanha).
While the exact cause of death is still under investigation, police said Wenbin “appeared to have taken his own life.”
It is the latest in a string of sudden deaths of young entertainers in the South Korean entertainment industry.
Earlier this month, 26-year-old actor Jung Chae-yull was found dead at his home. Actor Yoo Joo-eun, 27, died last August. Sulli, a former member of the girl group “f(x)”, died in 2019 at the age of 25 after suffering prolonged cyberbullying. Her best friend, fellow K-pop star Goo Hara, was found dead at home a month later.
Not all of these incidents were listed as suicides, but Moon Bin’s death has renewed scrutiny of the hyper-competitive Korean entertainment industry.
The Difficult Road to Becoming a K-pop Idol
Known for its hyper-competitive culture, South Korea also has the highest rate of youth suicide among developed nations. While overall suicide rates are falling, suicides among people in their 20s are on the rise.
Video: Crowd mourns death of South Korean star Moon Bin
And according to Billboard magazine’s Asia correspondent Rob Schwartz, being a star in South Korea involves far more pressure than a pop star in Europe or the United States.
Competition has been fierce from the start. Entertaining is an extremely popular career for young Koreans. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Korean Ministry of Education, actors, models and singers are among the top 10 dream careers for elementary school students.
To become a K-pop star, most go through a grueling training period that means they are largely cut off from friends and peers, which can last for years.
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Take Wen Bin as an example. Although he was already a child actor in the popular Korean drama “Boys Over Flowers” (Boys Over Flowers) in Asia when he was only 11 years old, he still has to go through 8 years of training before becoming a member of the idol group “ASTRO”. Member debut. His younger sister, Moon Sua, who is also a member of the girl group “Billlie”, had 12 years of preparation before her debut.
After many rounds of intense screening, only a small percentage of apprentices make it onto the stage. And what awaits them afterwards is an industry where there are already too many stars.
Schwartz pointed out that the control of artist management companies and the fan circle culture are the two major sources of pressure on Korean stars.
It was once common for up-and-coming artists to be bound by so-called slave contracts — long-term exclusivity agreements that give them little control over their schedule or financial compensation.
While there have been cases in recent years of K-pop stars winning lawsuits and getting out of unreasonable contracts, Schwartz believes that the relationship between the two parties has not fundamentally changed.
“K-pop stars have a little more control in that they’re not as controlled as they used to be,” Schwartz said. “Things have changed, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily better.”
And the fandom, multiplied by the country’s vibrant social media, can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
“They watch their every move, they scrutinize their hairstyles,” Schwartz said. “They put these people under a microscope, it’s crazy.”
Once they debut, these artists are closely monitored not only by their own fans, but also by the whole society. In a country where class differences have long been an issue, being a public figure means the public holds you to higher standards.
Drunk driving is considered one of the worst crimes a public figure can commit in South Korea, where it can end a person’s career. The 22-year-old famous actor Kim Sae-ron suffered a huge public reaction when he crashed his car while drunk.
“Compared to other countries, Korea has very strict moral standards for celebrities,” said Ha Jae-kun, a South Korean pop culture critic.
“If a star behaves even slightly from what is considered ‘decorative’, the public will attack them. And a star is very vulnerable to such an attack due to the high social pressure of a strong collectivism.” Hard to ignore.”
the stigma
Insiders also point out that being a celebrity with mental health issues can be extremely difficult.
In a 2017 interview with BBC Korean, rapper Swings (Moon Ji-hoon), who has himself been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, revealed the burden the problem can place on them.
“It’s like running around naked,” he said. “They’re like, ‘I thought this guy was sick, you know, why is he on stage?’ They obviously don’t know what’s going on.”
The industry is aware of the mental health stress their stars are under, and some K-pop idols are talking about taking extended vacations for health reasons.
Jeongyeon, a member of the top girl group Twice, has been out of action four times since 2020 due to mental health and neck injuries. She returned last month. Moon Bin will be suspended for health reasons in 2019 and 2020.
Several agencies have also prepared psychotherapy sessions for trainee entertainers and celebrities. South Korea’s largest search engine, NAVER, closed the comment column under its entertainment news section in 2022, acknowledging that the entertainment industry has become potentially toxic.
But some still don’t see anything driving a fundamental shift anytime soon.
“K-pop is sui generis, and everybody wants to make K-pop idols better. But how do you do that?” Schwartz said.
“Superfans are so obsessed with these idols, it’s like a vicious cycle of being put under a microscope and performing well.”
*Yuna Ku is a BBC Korean correspondent in Seoul. Joe Guinito (Joel Guinto) participated in reporting in Singapore