Dark side of K-pop
The suicide of SHINee’s lead singer Kim Jong-hyun reveals the gritty reality that lies beneath the wholesome image of the K-pop scene.
SEOUL: Six of K-pop’s biggest stars carried the coffin of fellow singer Kim Jong-hyun to a hearse, after he died leaving behind a suicide note that spoke of his battle with loneliness and depression.
Kim’s body was taken to his funeral yesterday from the Asan Medical Centre in Seoul, where it had been lying at rest.
The procession was led by one of Kim’s bandmates from SHINee – one of the country’s top boy bands – dressed in black bearing a plaque topped by a crucifix and reading “Kim Jong-hyun, believer”.
His sister followed, tears coursing down her cheeks as she carried a picture of Kim in a dark wooden frame, smiling at the camera with his hair dyed a light brown
The coffin was carried by three of the other surviving SHINee band members and three from Super Junior, another boyband managed by the same agency.
The celebrities bowed their heads and prayed while waiting for the hearse, a black Lincoln limousine, to leave the building, as people at the back sang Christian hymns.
Despite the harsh winter weather, weeping fans in jackets, hats, scarves and masks waited outside for the vehicle to leave.
They cried even harder as the hearse passed them by. — AFP