- Title: Cyber bullying, star suicides: The dark side of South Korea's K-pop world
- Date: 28th November 2019
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (NOVEMBER 27, 2019) (REUTERS) SOUTH KOREAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CLASSROOM LISTENING TO LECTURE ON CYBER BULLYING LETTER ON SCREEN READING (Korean and English): "BULLYING" SOUTH KOREAN CYBER CRIME INVESTIGATOR AT SEOUL METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY, JEON MIN-SU, GIVING LECTURE ON CYBER BULLYING STUDENTS LISTENING LECTURE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SO
- Embargoed: 12th December 2019 08:28
- Keywords: K-pop stars Koo Hara suicide South Korea comment Sulli online cyber bullying
- Location: SEOUL, INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA/ TOKYO, JAPAN
- City: SEOUL, INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA/ TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA003B7G86RR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The apparent suicide of a second K-pop artist in a month has cast renewed focus in South Korea on vicious personal attacks and cyber bullying of vulnerable young stars, and how it mostly goes unpunished.
K-pop singer Koo Hara was found dead in her home on Sunday (November 24) and the police found a handwritten note despairing about her life. She had been subjected to vicious attacks online about her relationships with men, local media said.
Koo had spoken out against cyber bullying. She had been found unconscious at her home in May and hospitalised, and a month after the incident she professed to be suffering depression and vowed to fight malicious online comment.
The police consider cyber violence a serious crime and have an active programme educating the public how not to fall prey to online attacks, or to become the perpetrator.
Charges laid are steadily on the rise with nearly 150,000 cases last year, but they form just a minuscule portion of what goes on and there is no good recourse for the victims in a country once touted as one of the most wired on earth, according to the police.
"People turn a blind eye to the (cyber bullying) situation because they're afraid of becoming the victim if they intervene," South Korea's university student Kim Ji-yun said after the police's lecture, adding that a social system to punish the perpetrator is needed.
"Even though schools conduct a preventive education, I don't think it's enough. We need to establish a social system where a third party can help the victim and make sure the perpetrator gets what they deserve," Kim added.
Member of parliament Park Sun-sook, a former presidential spokeswoman who first addressed the issue of online attacks in 1998, proposed a bill to make it possible for anyone to ask web portals to take down malicious or blatantly false comments.
Kwon Young-chan, comedian-turned-counsellor who has himself been a victim of online violence and now runs a celebrity suicide-prevention centre said the general public are unaware of how serious these malicious comments are and how similar they are to murder. Koo was friends with the K-pop star Sulli who was found dead in October, who was also outspoken against cyber bullying.
The Korean pop music world is popular across Asia but has a dark underbelly. Earlier this year, several male K-pop stars and one of the industry's biggest producers were questioned by police in connection with illegal gambling and prostitution.
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