Dark side of the K-pop dream

Star’s suicide highlights cut-throat nature of S. Korean society

SEOUL: Known for its ultra-competitive, pressure-cooker society, South Korea has one of the world’s highest suicide rates. This week, the stresses in the country’s showbiz industry took their toll on a K-pop superstar.

Kim Jong-hyun, a 27-year-old lead singer of the hugely popular boy band SHINee, took his own life in a Seoul hotel room on Monday, sending shockwaves through fans around the world.

Five-member SHINee was at the forefront of the “Korean Wave” that has seen South Korean pop culture sweep Asia by storm in the past decade and even further afield.

The band has found fame and fortune with chart-topping albums and sold-out concerts at home and abroad since their debut in 2008.

But a grittier reality lies beneath the glamour of the K-pop scene – cut-throat competition, a lack of privacy, online bullying and relentless pressure to maintain a wholesome image at all times and at any cost.

Many stars like Kim are picked up by agencies at a young age, usually in their early or mid teens, their lives then taken over by gruelling singing and dancing training, with the ever-present risk of falling foul of a cut-throat screening process.

Holidays are rare and privacy an unaffordable luxury as many live with other bandmates in dorm-like apartments provided by their agents, who dictate everything from music styles and diet regimen to mobile phone use, and even impose dating bans. Many struggle with a constant lack of sleep and privacy.

Kim Se-jeong, a popular K-pop singer, confessed to once sleeping a total of one hour for four days.

“I had to perform on stage, appear in TV shows and shoot commercials all at the same time,” she told an interviewer earlier this year.

Kang Daniel, of the boy band Wanna One, said his biggest wish was “having just one day of rest”.

“For months ahead of my debut, I woke up four or five in the morning ... practised until two or three in the morning the following day,” Kang, 21, said in an interview in August.

He was “grateful” to get a chance at fame, he added, but the gruelling schedule eventually affected his health and he cancelled all public appearances earlier this month.

Many K-pop stars face great pressure to look and behave perfectly in an industry powered by “fandoms” – groups of well-organised admirers who spend vast amounts of time and money to help their favoured stars climb up the charts and attack their perceived rivals.

In return, the stars are expected to tread carefully in an industry where today’s most fervent fans can be tomorrow’s most vicious critics if their idols fail to meet their expectations – or “betray” them.

Drug use or drunken driving are career-breakers, while behaviour that causes a “stir” – anything from a social media gaffe to a failure to smile ceaselessly at public appearances – could be criticised for years.

Many are chased by paparazzi and fans who share or sell every detail and image of the stars’ daily lives online for public scrutiny.

“These ‘idols’ live in a fishbowl and are pressed to put on a happy face while behaving nicely 24/7,” said cultural commentator Kim Seong-soo, adding that the strain could “cripple them emotionally”.

But celebrity suicides are only a microcosm of South Korea’s wider social issues, including fierce competition in areas from education to workplaces and a lack of safety nets.

“Our country has an extreme form of winner-take-all system where those who fail can hardly make a comeback, or even survive,” said Seong-soo. — AFP

Our country has an extreme form of winner-take-all system where those who fail can hardly make a comeback or even survive. Kim Seong-soo