Astro member Moon Bin's shocking death at 25 brings spotlight back on the many K-Pop deaths
Astro's Moon Bin found dead at home. Photo: Instagram/moon_ko_ng
K-Pop star and member of the boy band Astro, Moon Bin, passed away on April 19 at the age of 25. South Korean media reported that he was found unresponsive by his manager at his apartment in Seoul's upscale Gangnam neighbourhood on Wednesday night.
His music label Fantagio also confirmed his death in a statement, that read:
Fantagio also asked people to refrain from making speculations about the 25-year-old star's death.
So far, the cause of his death remains unknown. But Soompi quoted a Seoul police officer stating:
Who was Moon Bin?
- Moon Bin signed with Fantagio's trainee program as a child and was an actor and model before he joined K-Pop band Astro. He debuted with Astro in 2016.
- The other group members include Cha Eun-woo, Jinjin, MJ, and Yoon San-ha. A sixth member left the group earlier this year.
- Moon Bin also appeared in K-Dramas like At Eighteen, in the lead role in web-drama The Mermaid Prince.
- Astro's most recent studio album Drive to the Starry Road was released in 2022 with several of the songs topping the Billboard's World Digital Songs chart.
Moon Bin's last Instagram post:
- Moon Bin was also scheduled to perform at the upcoming Dream Concert in Busan as part of Astro sub-group with member Yoon San-ha and also perform in Jakarta on May 13.
- Moon Bin's sister Moon Sua is also a K-Pop star and member of the girl group Billlie. AllKpop reported that Moon Sua's agency has cancelled or postponed all activities planned for the girl group for the week.
*TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS SUICIDE*
South Korea, K-Pop and suicides:
- South Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. Suicide is also one of the leading causes of death for those under the age of 40 in the country.
- While the issue of suicide and mental health is not only limited to the entertainment world, the high-profile deaths of celebrities spark renewed attention to all things wrong with the system.
- Other famous celebrity deaths by suicide in recent times include actress Yoo Joo-eun in 2022, Song Yoo-jung in 2021, K-Pop star Cha In-ha, singer and actress Goo Hara and former member of f(x) Sulli in 2019, and SHINEE's Jonghyun in 2017.
- Each celebrity death by suicide reveals the dark underbelly of the glamorous Korean entertainment scene.
- Yoo Joo-eun in her suicide note described her profession as both a blessing and a curse, Goo Hara was harassed by an ex-boyfriend and faced online bullying before her death, and her close friend Sulli passed away months before her after being a target of online trolls.
- SHINEE's Jonghyun left a suicide note telling how his depression got the better of him. He had previously spoken about his mental health struggles publicly before his death.
- Jonghyun also seemed to imply the pressures of working in the K-Pop industry and wanted people to tell him that he did a good job one last time.
- Most of the stars were under 30 when they took their own lives.
- Amber Liu, a former member of girl group f(x) who also worked with Sulli, told PEOPLE magazine about the struggles of being a K-Pop star.
- Most K-Pop stars are picked up very young, usually in their early teens or mid-teens, by agencies to train to become performers.
- Many of these young aspiring individuals live in tight control of the agency, with their days taken over completely by grueling training, maintaining unhealthy beauty standards, and more.
- And as a consequence, many don't really develop the life skills they would have otherwise learned outside the showbiz training industry.
High personal debt, a harsh competitive society, an obsession with maintaining beauty standards, the stigma of discussing mental health, and the overall pressures of various industries have resulted in South Korea having one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
[ALSO READ: What it takes to become a K-Pop idol]