No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Regulating the Idol: The Life and Death of a South Korean Popular Music Star
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Abstract
Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
For many people outside the South Korean popular music (K-pop) world, the December 2017 death of pop star Kim Jonghyun was a sad, but abstract event. Jonghyun, and dozens more like him, is a type of Korean celebrity known as an “idol.” In addition to being popular within Korea, idols are the public face of K-pop, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. This has made idols into incarnations of Korea and Korean culture, and brought the public's powerful disciplining gaze to bear on these young performers. In this paper, we explore how characteristics of life in contemporary Korea—including a high suicide rate, and intense pressures in education and employment—compound with idols' years of intense training in singing and dancing without adequate attention to physical, much less mental, health. Although this is the first incident of an A-list K-pop idol committing suicide, we propose that the nature of contemporary Korean celebrity, together with specific factors defining the lives of Korean youth, create an environment where suicide may become even more prevalent, escalating Korea's suicide rate, which is already among the world's highest. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of Jonghyun's suicide on K-pop fans.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Authors 2018
References
Sources
Bae, Sang-hoon and Song, Ji-Hoon. “Youth Unemployment and the Role of Career and Technical Education: A Study of the Korean Labor Market.” Career and Technical Education Research 31, no. 1 (2006): 2–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, Dong-hyun and Kwon, Hyeok-yong. “Mueosi han'gugineul bulhaengage mandeuneun'ga? Sodeuk bulpyeongdeung, gihoe bulpyeongdeung, geurigo haengbokui gyunyeolgujo [What Makes Koreans Unhappy?: Income Inequality, Inequality in Opportunities, and Social Cleavages of Happiness].” Gyeonghui daehakgyo illyusahoe jaegeon yeonguwon [Kyunghee University Center for the Reconstruction of Human Society] 31, no. 1 (2016): 5–39.Google Scholar
Chua, Beng Huat. “Conceptualizing an East Asian Popular Culture.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 5, no. 2 (2004): 200–22.Google Scholar
Doyle, Aaron. “Revisiting the Synopticon: Reconsidering Mathiesen's ‘the Viewer Society’ in the Age of Web 2.0.” Theoretical Criminology 15, no. 3 (2011): 283–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drapalski, Amy L, Lucksted, Alicia, Perrin, Paul B, Aakre, Jennifer M, Brown, Clayton H, DeForge, Bruce R, and Boyd, Jennifer E. “A Model of Internalized Stigma and Its Effects on People with Mental Illness.” Psychiatric Services 64, no. 3 (2013): 264–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elfving-Hwang, Joanna. “Cosmetic Surgery and Embodying the Moral Self in South Korean Popular Makeover Culture.” Asia-Pacific Journal 11, no. 24 (2013): 1–16.Google Scholar
Elfving-Hwang, Joanna. “K-Pop Idols, Artificial Beauty and Affective Fan Relationships in South Korea.” In Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies, edited by Elliott, Anthony. 190–201. New York: Routledge, 2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Stephen, and Joo, Rachael Miyung. “Multiple Exposures: Korean Bodies and the Transnational Imagination.” Asia-Pacific Journal 10, no. 33 (August 13, 2012): 1–17.Google Scholar
Epstein, Stephen. “‘Into the New World’: Girls' Generation from the Local to the Global.” In K-Pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry, edited by Choi, Jungbong and Maliangkay, Roald. New York: Routledge, 2015.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Sheridan, Alan. New York: Random House, 1977.Google Scholar
Fu, King-wa, and Chan, CH. “A Study of the Impact of Thirteen Celebrity Suicides on Subsequent Suicide Rates in South Korea from 2005 to 2009.” In PLoS ONE 8, no. 1 (2013).Google Scholar
Fuhr, Michael. Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea: Sounding out K-Pop. London: Routledge, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galbraith, Patrick W., and Karlin, Jason G. “Introduction: The Mirror of Idols and Celebrity.” In Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture, edited by Galbraith, Patrick W. and Karlin, Jason G. 1–32. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, Margaret. “Some Thoughts on Celebrity Deaths: Steve Irwin and the Issue of Public Mourning.” Mortality 12, no. 1 (2007): 1–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gross, Larry. “Privacy and Spectacle: The Reversible Panopticon and Media-Saturated Society.” In Image Ethics in the Digital Age, edited by Gross, Larry, Katz, John Stuart and Ruby, Jay. 95–114. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Ho, Swee-Lin. “Fuel for South Korea's ”Global Dreams Factory“: The Desires of Parents Whose Children Dream of Becoming K-Pop Stars.” Korea Observer 43, no. 3 (2012): 471–502.Google Scholar
Inglis, Fred. A Short History of Celebrity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jang, Sooah, Ji, Minsung, Park, Jinyoung, and Jeon, Wootaek. “Copycat Suicide Induced by Entertainment Celebrity Suicides in South Korea.” Psychiatry Investigation 13, no. 1 (2016): 74–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeong, Baekgeun and Veenstra, Gerry. “The Intergenerational Production of Depression in South Korea: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study.” International Journal for Equity in Health 16, no. 13 (2017): 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeong, Seunghwa. “1950-60nyeondae Han'guksaehoe gyeongjegujo byeonhwawa gajokdongbanjasal [Changes to the Economic Structure of Korean Society and Whole Family Suicide, 1950-60].” Naeileul yeo-neun yeoksa [The History of Tomorrow] 42, no. 3 (2011): 180–200.Google Scholar
Jeong, Sooim, Ben Park, B.C., and Ratcliff, Kathryn Strother. “Cultural Stigma Manifested in Official Suicide Death in South Korea.” Omega–Journal of Death and Dying 0, no. 0 (2016): 1–18.Google Scholar
Ji, Namju, Hong, Yeon-pyo, Stack, Steven John, and Lee, Won-Young. “Trends and Risk Factors of the Epidemic of Charcoal Burning Suicide in a Recent Decade among Korean People.” Journal of Korean Medical Science 29, no. 8 (2014): 1174–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Namju, Lee, Weon-Young, Noh, Maengseok, and Yip, Paul S.F. “The Impact of Indiscriminate Media Coverage of a Celebrity Suicide on a Society with a High Suicide Rate: Epidemiological Findings on Copycat Suicides from South Korea.” Journal of Affective Disorders 156, no. 56-61 (2014).Google Scholar
Jo, Jungin. “Weapons of the Dissatisfied? Perceptions of Socioeconomic Inequality, Redistributive Preference, and Political Protest: Evidence from South Korea.” International Area Studies Review 19, no. 4 (2016): 285–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ki, Myung, Paik, Jong-woo, Choi, Kyeong-sook, Ryu, Seung-ho, Han, Changsu, Lee, Kangjoon, Ham, Byungjoo, et al. “Delays in Depression Treatment among Korean Population.” Asia-Pacific Psychiatry 6, no. 4 (2014): 414–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, Doohwan and Choi, Yool. “The Irony of the Unchecked Growth of Higher Education in South Korea: Crystallization of Class Cleavages and Intensifying Status Competition.” Development and Society 44, no. 3 (2015): 435–63.Google Scholar
Kim, Hyejin. “‘Spoon Theory’ and the Fall of a Populist Princess in Seoul.” Journal of Asian Studies 76, no. 4 (2017): 839–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Jungwoo, Jung, Heeyoung, Won, Doyeon, Noh, Jaehyun, Shin, Yongseok, and Kang, Taein. “Suicide Trends According to Age, Gender, and Marital Status in South Korea.” Omega–Journal of Death and Dying 0, no. 0 (2017): 1–16.Google Scholar
Kim, Moon-Doo, Hong, Seung-Chul, Lee, Sang-Yi, Kwak, Young-Sook, Lee, Chang-In, Hwang, Seungwook, Shin, Tae-Kyun, Lee, Seung-Min, and Shin, Ji-Nam. “Suicide Risk in Relation to Social Class: A National Register-Based Study of Adult Suicides in Korea, 1999–2001.” International Journal of Social Psychiatry 52, no. 2 (2006): 138–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, Sujeong, and Kim, Sooah. “‘Jipdanjeok dodeokjuui’ etoseu: Honjongjeok keipapui han'gukjeok munhwa jeongcheseong [The Ethos of Collective Moralism: The Korean Cultural Identity of K-Pop].” Eonrongwa sahoe [Media and Society] 23, no. 3 (2015): 5–52.Google Scholar
Lee, Ah-Rong, Ahn, Myunghee, Lee, Taeyeop, Park, Subin, and Hong, Jinpyo. “Rapid Spread of Suicide by Charcoal Burning from 2007 to 2011 in Korea.” Psychiatry Research 219 (2014): 518–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, Hyojung, Ju, Youngjun, and Park, Eun-cheol. “Utilization of Professional Mental Health Services According to Recognition Rate of Mental Health Centers.” Psychiatry Research 250, no. April (2017): 204–09.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, Jesuk, Lee, Weon-Young, Hwang, Jang-Sun, and Stack, Steven John. “To What Extent Does the Reporting Behavior of the Media Regarding a Celebrity Suicide Influence Subsequent Suicides in South Korea?” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 44, no. 4 (2014): 457–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, Seung-yeon, Hong, Jun-sung, and Espelage, Dorothy. “An Ecological Understanding of Youth Suicide in South Korea.” School Psychology International 31, no. 5 (2010): 531–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maliangkay, Roald. “Uniformity and Nonconformity: The Packaging of Korean Girl Groups.” In Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media, edited by Lee, Sangjoon Abe, and Nornes, Markus. 90–107. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Marshall, P. David. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathiesen, Thomas. “The Viewer Society: Michel Foucault's ‘Panopticon’ Revisited.” Theoretical Criminology 1, no. 2 (1997): 215–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesoudi, Alex. “The Cultural Dynamics of Copycat Suicide.” PLoS ONE 4, no. 9 (2009): 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myung, Woojae, Won, Hong-Hee, Fava, Maurizio, Mischoulon, David, Yeung, Albert, Lee, Dongsoo, Kim, Dohkwan, and Jeon, Hongjin. “Celebrity Suicides and Their Differential Influence on Suicides in the General Population: A National Population-Based Study in Korea.” Psychiatry Investigation 12, no. 2 (2015): 204–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otmazgin, Nissim Kadosh. “A New Cultural Geography of East Asia: Imagining a ‘Region’ through Popular Culture.” Asia-Pacific Journal 14, no. 7 (2016): 1–12.Google Scholar
Park, Juhyun, Choi, Nari, Kim, Seogju, Kim, Soohyun, An, Hyonggin, Lee, Heon-jeong, and Lee, Yujin. “The Impact of Celebrity Suicide on Subsequent Suicide Rates in The General Population of Korea from 1990 to 2010.” Journal of Korean Medical Science 31, no. 4(2016): 598–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pescosolido, Bernice A, Medina, Tait R., Martin, Jack, and Long, J. Scott. “The ‘Backbone of Stigma:‘ Identifying the Global Core of Public Prejudice Associated with Mental Illness.” American Journal of Public Health 103, no. 5 (2013): 853–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roh, Sungwon, Lee, Sang-uk, Soh, Minah, Ryu, Vin, Kim, Hyunjin, Jang, Jungwon, Lim, Heeyoung, et al. “Mental Health Services and R&D in South Korea.” International Journal of Mental Health Systems 10, no. 45 (2016): 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shim, Doobo. “The Cyber Bullying of Pop Star Tablo and South Korean Society: Hegemonic Discourses on Educational Background and Military Service.” Acta Koreana 17, no. 1 (2014): 479–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, Haerin. “The Dynamics of K-Pop Spectatorship: The Tablo Witch-Hunt and Its Double-Edged Sword of Enjoyment.” In K-Pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry, edited by Choi, JungBong and Maliangkay, Roald. 133–45. New York: Routledge, 2015.Google Scholar
Song, Dong-uk, and Yi, Gihyeong. “Bulanjeonghan hyeonsilgwa daemyeonhaneun i sidae cheongnyeondeului salme gwanhan jilcheogin bunseok: ‘Samposedae’, geurigo 'heljoseon'iraneun homyeonge daehan cheongnyeonjuchedeului chehwadoen daeeunggwa gwanjeomeul jungsimeuro [A Cultural Analysis of the Varying Modes of Survival and the Particular Structures of Feeling among Young Adults in Contemporary South Korea in an Era of Fierce Competition and Widespread Social Uncertainty].” Han'guk eollon jeongbo hakbo [Korean Journal of Communication and Information] 84 (2017): 28–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, Inhan, Kwon, Sewon, and Park, Danbi. “Chinguui jasalsidoga cheongsonyeonui jasal saenggake michineun yeonghyang sahoejeok jijiui jojeolhyogwa bunseok [Influence of Friends' Suicide Attempts on Adolescents' Suicidal Ideation Analysis of the Effect of Social Support as a Moderator].” Jeongsinbogeongwa sahoesaeop [Mental Health and Social Work] 40, no. 1 (2012): 352–76.Google Scholar
Song, Taemin, Song, Juyoung, An, Ji-Young, Hayman, Laura L, and Woo, Jong-Min. “Psychological and Social Factors Affecting Internet Searches on Suicide in Korea: A Big Data Analysis of Google Search Trends.” Yonsei Medical Journal 55, no. 1 (2014): 254–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turnbull, James. “Just Beautiful People Holding a Bottle: The Driving Forces behind South Korea's Love of Celebrity Endorsement.” Celebrity Studies 8, no. 1 (2017): 128–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waksman, Steve. “The Star System.” In The Sage Handbook of Popular Music, edited by Bennett, Andy and Waksman, Steve. 297–300. Los Angeles: Sage, 2015.Google Scholar
Williams, J. Patrick, and Xiang, Samantha Ho, Xin. “‘Sasaengpaen’ or K-Pop Fan?: Singapore Youths, Authentic Identities, and Asian Media Fandom.” Deviant Behavior 37, no. 1 (2016): 81–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Jaewon, Han, Changsu, Yoon, Ho-kyoung, Pae, Chi-un, Kim, Minjeong, Park, Sun-young, and Ahn, Jeonghoon. “Experiences and Barriers to Implementation of Clinical Practice Guideline for Depression in Korea.” BMC Psychiatry 13, no. 150 (2013): 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yi, Chunghan. “GKyeongjejeok bpulpyeongdeunggwa siminjeok sam [Economic Inequality and Civic Life].” Cheolhak nonchong [Journal of the New Korean Philosophical Association] 82, no. 4 (2015): 455–75.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jie, Tan, Jiandan, and Lester, David. “Psychological Strains Found in the Suicides of 72 Celebrities.” Journal of Affective Disorders 149 (2013): 230–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
You have
Access