A Lesson Learned From a High School Girl’s Death

A high school girl’s suicide has raised questions over whether a “bad reply” may have been the reason behind her killing herself. The victim, Lee (17), was found dead by her mother on Tuesday morning after she hanged herself in her bedroom closet in her parents’ house in the M apartment complex in Daejeon.

Lee appeared on TV after she had succeeded in losing 40 kg of weight in just three months. According to her friends, she was receiving messages related to her TV appearance, which are suspected to be directly related to her suicide.

The police only revealed parts of her suicide note, in which she wrote, “I am still stinging from my mother’s rebuke. Mom and dad, I am so sorry for inflicting pain upon you, for giving you so much pain.” Her mother said, “On the previous evening, I found my daughter feeding her nephew, skipping her meal to reduce her weight, and I reprimanded her for not eating. Then she entered and locked her room.”

TV appearance-

She became the talk of the town after she lost 40 kg in just three months and was featured on a SBS TV program called Star King in late April. She appeared with a nameplate and told her story on the program. She was treated as a celebrity at school, among friends, and even on the Internet since then, and she often said to her friends that she wanted to become a singer later.

Anguished by rumors-

Her school friends revealed, “She took a picture of herself with a member of “S”, a famous singing group, who was one of the program’s panel members, which was the major reason for her becoming a subject of personal attacks.” She posted the picture on her own website. One classmate said, “After the picture was spread online, she was badly frightened after she received about a dozen threatening phone calls and text messages a day from fans of the group.” Another friend said, “She received those phone calls even at home.” In relation to this, some netizens criticized the fan club of “S” group for bombarding her with the hate messages that may have eventually driven her to end her own life.

The president of the high school she attended said, “She was known to have made many friends after the TV appearance. But as far as I know, she didn’t make any request for counseling due to the hate messages. But I heard from her friends after her suicide that she suffered badly from them.” The police are now investigating the alleged relationship between the possible motives behind her killing herself: the hate messages, rumors, and possible side effects from the extreme diet she went on.

doyocedonga.com hyejin@donga.com