Suicide

Looking back at 2012: Domestic news

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by Philip Gowman on 26 January, 2013

in 2012 year-end posts | Business & economy | Education and teaching | In the news | Military | Modern Life | Politics | Society | Statistics and league tables | Tabloid

In our final round-up of Korea-related stories which caught our eye in 2012, we look at domestic and business news. Modern Life and how to escape it. Korea came 24th out of 34 leading countries in an OECD quality of life index, coming bottom of the class in job security and gender income inequality and […]

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Saharial’s Entertainment Weekly: Rain, Tablo, Psy and Propofol

by Saharial 12 January 2013
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In 2008 Choi Jin Shil, a popular actress, committed suicide after threats and pressure from netizens and from her personal life. Two years later in March 2010 her brother committed suicide, and now on 6th January 2013 her ex husband Jo Sung Min also took his own life in the same manner. A former basketball […]

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Saharial’s Entertainment Weekly: Block B’s lawsuit and Rain’s National Service Lite

by Saharial 5 January 2013
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Its only the first week of January and the Korean media is already buzzing with a heap of scandal. First off the bat is Rain who enlisted in the army in March 2012, and joined the Defence Media Agency (DEMA) like many other stars before him. Whilst not having used up his three official holiday […]

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Festival Film Review: Suicide Forecast

by Philip Gowman 12 November 2011
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LKL ponders on how a surprisingly charming film on the difficult subject of suicide could have useful lessons for financial sector remuneration strategy and sales practices.

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A last look back at 2010

by Philip Gowman 23 January 2011
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We’ve digested the albums, films, sporting events and books of the year, and reviewed some of the memorable stories of 2010 in our Quiz of the Year. Here are some of the other things we noted in 2010 which didn’t quite make it into any of those articles. 2010: a year of anniversaries It was […]

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Man tweets suicide note

by Philip Gowman 18 June 2010
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South Korean man posts suicide note on Twitter http://bit.ly/9ASpux #. Via @TelegraphNews “I’m going to commit suicide. To all of you, even those who shared the slightest friendship with me, I love you,” wrote a former disk jockey before taking his life. Keywords: General post tags: Suicide

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Lee Eun-ju, still remembered 5 years on

by Philip Gowman 22 February 2010
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It’s five years to the day since she took her own life. To remember her, here’s a recording of her cover version of the Corrs’ song Only When I Sleep (1997). The version is from Lee Eun-ju’s final film, The Scarlet Letter. Via James Turnbull and SuzyinSeoul Keywords: People: Lee Eun-ju Other tags: Suicide

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A belated look back at 2009

by Philip Gowman 9 January 2010
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For the past 3 years LKL has concocted a quiz of the year as a way of gathering together some of the news stories which have most caught our eye. This year, as I came to draw up the list in mid December I found it hard to think of anything amusing or diverting: most […]

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Suicides soar among NY Koreans

by Philip Gowman 31 December 2009
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Suicides soar among New York Koreans – more depressing stories for 2009: Money troubles have been the leading force behind the sharp rise, say Korean civic leaders and officials, who are alarmed by the trend. Failure to get into top colleges, perform well at school or climb the economic ladder can cause deep shame and […]

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Choi Jin-shil “failed to maintain dignity”

by Philip Gowman 12 June 2009
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The late Choi Jin-shil, domestic violence and her advertising contract: The top court ruled that she caused damage to the [construction] company by “failing to keep her social and moral honor” and thus depreciating the brand image. Following Choi’s suicide last October, her two children ― one preschooler and the other primary schooler ― are […]

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Roh Moo Hyun RIP

by Philip Gowman 24 May 2009
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One of the sad things about ex-President Roh’s death is the lack of news coverage it has received in the UK. The sad event was on Saturday morning 23 May, Korea time. Reuters, with the advantage of the date line on their side, managed a 22 May report. To their credit, the BBC has had […]

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Sleepless in Seoul

by Philip Gowman 6 May 2009
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The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend longer at work and commuting than they do indulging […]

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Things that just make me so sad

by Saharial 4 October 2008
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By Saharial It is becoming increasingly obvious to me, even as a distant overseas observer of the Korean Entertainment industry, that something is going seriously wrong. This morning seemed to sum up far too many of the ills for, when I woke up, the news had broken that there had been yet another suicide, making […]

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Suicide Notes – a brief review of Kim Young-ha’s I Have a Right to Destroy Myself

by Philip Gowman 28 November 2007
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Kim Young-ha: I have the right to destroy myself Originally published 1996 Translation by Kim Chi-young, Harcourt, 2007 An entertaining book to read, but somehow difficult to distill and digest. The narrator, who makes a macabre living as a self-employed suicide counselor, bizarrely seeks out clients whose exits he facilitates. A small and eccentric cast […]

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Deadly Elves and other recent tabloid stories

by Philip Gowman 28 August 2007
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It’s a while since I did a round-up of celebrity news, which means that I’ve almost forgotten all the things I was going to mention, and lost most of the links that I was going to use. So before things get completely out of hand, here’s one of my not-so-regular posts shamelessly plundering the celebrity […]

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Korea has OECD’s top suicide rate

by Philip Gowman 2 October 2006

Korea’s National Statistics Office recent report was picked up by Yonhap and the Chosun. “The high suicide rate in South Korea seems to reflect a surge in social conflicts, including feuds between the sexes, economic hardship and domestic violence,” an NSO official said according to Yonhap. The Chosun article focuses on the “prolonged economic slump […]

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