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Kim Sae-ron. (Cine 21)

Actor Kim Sae-ron took her own life on Sunday. She was 24.

In the wake of her death, there are growing calls for society to reflect on the culture of malicious online posts about entertainers and the role played by some media in encouraging them, as Kim’s past mistake of driving while intoxicated led her ultimately to an irreversible tragedy.

As an actor, Kim Sae-ron had talent and promise. Her first experience with the entertainment world came in 2001 when she appeared in magazines as a 1-year-old, while her acting career began in 2009 with a role in the film “A Brand New Life.” She earned praise for giving the kind of delicate and emotional performance that was unexpected for someone of her age.

Her appearance in the 2010 film “The Man from Nowhere” with actor Won Bin led to her becoming one of Korea’s preeminent child actors.

She earned best female newcomer honors at the 19th Buil Film Awards for “A Brand New Life” and at the 8th Korean Film Awards for “The Man from Nowhere.” She also became the youngest actor to win a female newcomer award at the 35th Blue Dragon Film Awards for “A Girl at My Door.” She twice appeared on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in France for “A Brand New Life” and “A Girl at My Door.”

But her acting career suffered a severe hit in May 2022 when she crashed her car while intoxicated.

At the time, most of her appearances in the Netflix series “Bloodhounds” were edited out. In the later part of the series, she was replaced by a different actor.

Kim subsequently dropped out of numerous other planned projects. With her acting career on hold, she began a long period of self-imposed silence.

Unfortunately, the voyeuristic focus of the public and media continued to hound her.

After the media reported that she had earned a barista certification and was working part-time in a coffee shop, people began posting insulting comments on the business’s social media accounts.

When Kim posted photographs of herself fishing for fun on her social media, news sites drove up their click counts by publishing articles with headlines like “Drunk driver Kim Sae-ron’s recent situation revealed: Smiling and enjoying fishing.” This only led to further outpourings of rage from the public.

Last year, Kim planned to return to work in the play “Dongchimi.” But reports of her prospective return led to further eruptions of negative opinion, and she ended up bowing out of the production a day later, citing health reasons.

The film “Guitar Man” is currently slated to open as a posthumous release — but the possibility of a bona fide return is now forever closed.

The situation has prompted growing criticism of the vicious cycle of hatred and abuse directed toward entertainers.

Peter Jongho Na, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University, posted a Facebook message on Monday stating, “I don’t think a society that buries people for having made a mistake without giving them the chance to come back is a healthy society.”

“The way our society discards people who have made a mistake or fallen behind, and then moves on like nothing happened, makes it seem like one big ‘Squid Game,’” he said.

The writer Eun Yu posted an Instagram message in which she wrote, “I often tend to click on articles about entertainers who have caused some kind of ‘controversy,’ and they end up bordering on character assassination, practically asking, ‘Why don’t you die already?’”

“What hope is there for a society where the public sphere becomes a gallows and we remain indifferent to rescuing people who can be saved, whether they are entertainers or workers?” she asked.

Messages reflecting on the culture of bashing celebrities have also appeared on online communities. On Sunday, a statement posted on the popular forum site DC Inside credited to the sub-forum “Female Entertainers Gallery” read, “Kim Sae-ron acknowledged and reflected on her mistakes and worked to get back on her feet. But the condemnation and disregard from the public that she had to endure in the process were beyond human limits.”

“I hope this leads to our society giving everyone more grace,” the statement urged.

By Kim Min-je, staff reporter; Song Gyung-hwa, staff reporter

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