SEOUL - When K-pop star Sulli ended her own life last month, her fellow K-pop singer Goo Hara was heartbroken, bidding a farewell to her best friend in a live-streaming video.
The suicides by two of K-pop's most beloved stars have left fans in South Korea soul-searching over what has gone wrong in K-pop, their country's most successful cultural export. The genre has captured the imagination of fans around the world with its fusion of synthesised songs, video art, fashionable outfits and synchronised dance routines that mix teasing sexuality with doe-eyed innocence.
K-pop stars in their late 20s are already considered old, and these fading idols often try to carve out new roles in acting or as solo singers or talk-show regulars - a difficult transition that is often not successful. "Their fall can be as sudden and as dramatic as their rise to the height of fame," and all at a young age, Mr Lee added.