Kim Sae-ron’s dying underscores the large strain on South Korean celebrities

Article content material

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Within the about 1,000 days between her drunken-driving crash in Could 2022 and her dying, South Korean mainstream information organizations revealed a minimum of round 2,000 tales on movie actor Kim Sae-rom. A fast search within the nation’s press database yields a wave of sensational headlines that illustrate how the native media typically cowl a celeb’s fall from grace. Beforehand one of many brightest younger stars in South Korean cinema, Kim was condemned and ridiculed for driving drunk; for speaking about her monetary struggles after dropping roles; for taking a job at a espresso store; for trying a comeback in theater; for going out with mates as an alternative of “displaying regret”; and for being seen smiling on set whereas capturing an indie film.

Article content material

Article content material

Article content material

After the 24-year-old actor was discovered useless at her house Sunday, the headlines predictably swung to calling for adjustments to the best way celebrities are handled within the public enviornment.

Kim’s dying, which police contemplate a suicide, provides to a rising checklist of high-profile movie star deaths within the nation, which some specialists attribute to the big strain celebrities face beneath the gaze of a relentlessly unforgiving media that seizes on each misstep.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: In South Korea, callers can obtain 24-hour counseling by way of the suicide prevention hotline 1577-0199, the “Life Line” service at 1588-9191, the “Hope Telephone” at 129 and the “Youth Telephone” at 1388.

___

Right here’s a have a look at the extreme strain confronted by South Korean celebrities who fall from grace.

A sudden fall from grace

South Korea is notoriously harsh on its celebrities, notably girls.

Kim rose to stardom as a baby actor with the 2010 hit crime thriller “The Man from Nowhere” and garnered acclaim and recognition for her appearing in motion pictures and TV dramas for years.

However that modified after Could 18, 2022, when Kim crashed a car right into a tree and {an electrical} transformer whereas driving drunk in southern Seoul. She posted a handwritten apology on Instagram and reportedly compensated round 60 outlets that misplaced energy quickly due to the crash, however that did little to defuse destructive protection and she or he struggled to search out appearing work.

Article content material

Article content material

When a Seoul courtroom issued a 200 million received ($139,000) nice over the crash in April 2023, Kim expressed her fears in regards to the media to reporters, saying many articles about her personal life have been unfaithful.

“I’m too scared to say something about them,” she stated.

Relentless destructive protection

Within the wake of Kim’s drunken-driving crash, movie star gossip channels on YouTube started posting destructive movies about her personal life, suggesting with out offering proof that she was exaggerating her monetary straits by working at espresso outlets, and arguing that social media posts displaying her socializing with mates meant she wasn’t displaying sufficient regret.

Different entertainers, particularly feminine, have struggled to search out work after run-ins with the regulation, together with drunken driving or substance abuse, and specialists say a lot of them are reluctant to hunt remedy for psychological well being issues like despair, fearing additional destructive protection.

Kwon Younger-chan, a comedian-turned-scholar who leads a bunch serving to celebrities with psychological well being points, stated celebrities typically really feel helpless when the protection turns destructive after spending years fastidiously cultivating their public picture. Kwon, who stayed with Kim’s relations throughout a conventional three-day funeral course of, stated her household is contemplating authorized motion in opposition to a YouTube creator with tons of of hundreds of subscribers for what they describe as groundless assaults on Kim’s personal life.

Article content material

Peter Jongho Na, a professor of psychiatry on the Yale College of Drugs, lamented on Fb that South Korean society had turn into a large model of “Squid Sport,” the brutal Netflix survival drama, “abandoning individuals who make errors or fall behind, appearing as if nothing occurred.”

Media blamed for movie star deaths

The Nationwide Police Company stated officers discovered no indicators of foul play at Kim’s house and that she left no be aware.

However a spate of high-profile deaths has sparked discussions about how information organizations cowl the personal lives of celebrities and whether or not floods of essential on-line feedback are harming their psychological well being. Comparable conversations occurred after the 2008 dying of mega film star Choi Jin-sil; the dying of her former baseball star husband, Cho Sung-min, in 2013; the deaths of Ok-Pop singers Sulli and Goo Hara in 2019; and the dying of “Parasite” actor Lee Solar-kyun in 2023.

Sensational however unsubstantiated claims like from social media are extensively recycled and amplified by conventional media shops as they compete for viewers consideration, stated Hyun-jae Yu, a communications professor at Seoul’s Sogang College.

Article content material

Scuffling with a pointy decline in conventional media readership, he stated, media flip to masking YouTube drama as the best approach to drive up site visitors, typically skipping the work of reporting and verifying information.

Following the 2019 deaths of Sulli and Goo Hara, which have been extensively attributed to cyberbullying and sexual harassment each within the public and media, lawmakers proposed numerous measures to discourage harsh on-line feedback. These included increasing real-name necessities and strengthening web sites’ necessities to weed out hate speech and false data, however none of those proposed legal guidelines handed.

Reforms stay elusive

South Korean administration companies are getting more and more energetic in taking authorized motion to guard their entertainers from on-line bullying. Hybe, which manages a number of Ok-Pop teams together with BTS, publishes common updates about lawsuits it’s submitting in opposition to social media commentators it deems malicious.

However Yu stated it’s essential for mainstream media firms to strengthen self-regulation and restrict their use of YouTube content material as information sources. Authorities authorities might additionally compel YouTube and different social media platforms to take better duty for content material created by their customers, he stated, together with actively eradicating problematic movies and stopping creators from monetizing them.

Article content material

In a press release to The Related Press, YouTube stated it’s imposing tips in opposition to threats, harassment and hate speech and channels that repeatedly violate its insurance policies might be prevented from monetizing their content material and even be terminated.

Heo Chanhaeng, an govt director on the Middle for Media Accountability and Human Rights, stated information organizations and web sites ought to contemplate shutting down the feedback sections on leisure tales solely.

“Her personal life was indiscriminately reported past what was essential,” Heo stated. “That’s not a reliable matter of public curiosity.”

Article content material