K-Pop Artist Kim Jong-hyun Commits Suicide, Leaves Note Explaining Pressure Of Korean Spotlight

K-Pop boy band SHINee frontman Kim Jong-hyun, aka Jonghyun, was found unconscious in his hotel room on Monday and died in the hospital. His death was later ruled a suicide.

KOREAN SINGER JONGHYUN LEFT A SUICIDE NOTE

An apparent suicide note from the singer was made public on Tuesday, and explained the pressure he felt from the Korean spotlight had become unbearable. “I am broken from the inside,” Kim wrote. “The depression that had been slowly eating me up finally devoured me and I couldn’t defeat it.”

Police say that the 27-year-old singer sent a text to his older sister on Monday suggesting his plans to kill himself. Police say some of the words were, “I’ve had a hard time. Please let me go and say that I did a good job. This is my last word.”

Then, on Tuesday, a longer suicide note was uploading to the Instagram account of fellow musician 9, who plays in the band Dear Cloud. According to 9’s management team, the note was given to the musician two weeks prior to Kim’s death, and that Kim instructed 9 to make the note public should something happen to him.

In the note, written in Korean, Kim explained that his doctor blamed him for his inability to beat his depression. The note also suggests that the pressure of being a celebrity in Korea made his illness worse. “The life of fame was never meant for me. What else can I say more. Just tell me I’ve done well. That this is enough. That I’ve worked hard. Even if you can’t smile don’t fault me on my way,” the BBC translation reads.

The Korean entertainment industry is notoriously difficult, and fosters a high-competitive environment. Since the 1990s, when K-Pop and Korean film and TV grew in popularity, many Korean artists have killed themselves and placed some blame on the pressures of the industry in their notes. Korean-American singer Charles Park, known as Seo Ji-won, killed himself at age 19 in 1996 due to the pressure for his second album to be as successful as his first.

Kim was one of five members of SHINee and served as one of their primary songwriters. He was also working on his own solo career.