South Korean pop star Moonbin has passed away at the age of 25, reported Fantiago, the K-pop star’s record label. On Wednesday night, when his manager came to see him, he saw Moonbin unresponsive at his apartment in Seoul, said the police quoted by local media.
The police said, “He appears to have taken his own life but an autopsy is being reviewed to determine the exact cause of death.”
Fantiago gave a tribute to the K-pop star and wrote, Moonbin “unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky.” The record label also announced that the entire boy band Astro, of which one of the members was Moonbin, was returning to Seoul on Thursday to attend Moonbin’s wake.
The label also gave a statement for people to “refrain from speculative and malicious reports” in order to let the bereaved family pay their last respects to Moonbin in peace.
Moonbin’s life
Before Moonbin had joined the famous boy band Astro in 2016, he was an actor and model. He had joined the band at the age of 18. He had been playing as a duo since 2020 with another band member Sanha. Moonbin had last performed in Bangkok while he was on a world tour with Astro member Sanha.
Moonbin is not a lone pop singer in his family, his sister Moon Sua is also one and a member of the k-girl band Billlie. The brother-sister duo had been vocal about their dependency on each other in terms of professional music, in various earlier interviews.
Moonbin was part of a trainee programme of Fantagio in his childhood after which he joined Astro. The band originally consisted of six members, but was left with five when one of them left it in February 2023.
“Arohas” pay tribute
Moonbin’s death has left his fans, known as “Arohas”, in grief. He was famous as an all-round performer, and was considered the band’s best dancer.
Social media posts on Wednesday night showed fans in South Korea creating impromptu street tributes by placing flowers and post-it notes. Additionally, they hung purple and silver balloons, two hues that stood out during the singer’s previous performance in Thailand.
Before Moonbin, many K-pop stars have lost their lives recently:
– Goo Hara, a singer and actress, was found dead in her Seoul home in 2019. In the same year, her close friend and K-pop artist Sulli committed suicide following a protracted battle with internet bullying.
-Minwoo of the boy band 100% passed away at his home in 2018, and his label simply stated that he had a cardiac arrest.
-Jonghyun, the lead vocalist of SHINee, one of the biggest boy bands in South Korea, passed away in 2017.
Of all the developed countries, South Korea has witnessed most numbers of youth suicide. Although, its overall rate of suicide is declining, deaths of youth in their 20s can be seen in increasing numbers.
The government is working towards reducing these numbers, which plague Korea’s hyper-competitive society.
