hankyoreh

Many people were in mourning yesterday upon learning of the death of one of the country’s most beloved actors.

Choi Jin-sil, 40, was found dead in her apartment in Gangnam, Seoul, at 6 a.m. on October 2. Police, who found Choi’s body hanging in her bathroom, have temporarily concluded that she committed suicide.

According to her family and friends, one possible cause for her death was depression, one source of which was stress following her divorce from her husband, pro-baseball player Cho Sung-min. Another was related to the stress she underwent due to the widely circulated rumor that she loaned 2.5 billion won (U.S.$ 2.04 million) to the late Ahn Jae-hwan, who was also believed to have committed suicide in early September.

One rumor went so far as to link Choi’s loan with Ahn’s suicide, and she was reported to have repeatedly told his friends that she was deeply upset and wanted to die because of the rumors and Ahn’s death. This has led people to call on authorities to punish those who circulated the rumors.

The photos above, clockwise from upper left, show 1) the ambulance that carried Choi Jin-sil to the hospital after she was found; 2) her brother, Choi Jin-yeong; 3) Chung Sun-hee, the wife of the late Ahn Jae-hwan; 4) Choi’s friend Lee Young-ja.