Happiness Guru Commits Joint Suicide With Husband

Broadcast commentator Choi Yoon-hee, an advocate of happiness and hope, committed suicide together with her husband Thursday evening.

Police in the northern Seoul suburb of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, said the 63-year-old Choi was found dead with her husband, 72, at a motel in the city`s Ilsan district at 8:30 p.m.

The motel manager said, “They didn`t come out from their room after checkout time or answered phone calls. When I opened her room with the key, I found the couple dead.”

Lying on the back on her bed, she showed signs of being strangled and her husband was found to have hanged himself with a rope in the bathroom. Police suspect that he helped Choi commit suicide before killing himself.

A single-page will handwritten by Choi was found on a table in the room. It read, “I`ve suffered an illness for two years and am completely depleted after going in and out of the hospital repeatedly. Just before Chuseok (Full Moon Harvest holidays), I was taken to the emergency room due to a lung infection, and they found a heart abnormality this time. I no longer want to take bottles of intravenous solutions.”

“I can`t take it anymore because of the severe pain, and my husband cannot let me die alone. So we decided to die together.”

On the back of the envelope containing her will, Choi wrote, “My strong and healthy husband is dying with me for me. He`s been the best husband and sincere, nice and faithful throughout his life. I`m so sorry and thank you.”

Their son, 38, who visited their home the day before the suicide, said, “They told me that they were going on a trip, and I just thought they were leaving for medical treatment because she had recovered a bit.”

Choi was diagnosed with lupus (auto immune disease) two years ago and developed bacterial pneumonia that caused pulmonary edema before Chuseok (Sept. 23).

She told a media interview that she went alone to the village of Ddangkkeut in Haenam County, South Jeolla Province, and tried suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills before Chuseok. She was saved after her husband found her and called emergency.

Choi was a homemaker before joining Diamond Ad as a copywriter at age 38 due to her family`s waning finances, and was later promoted to director. From 2001, she appeared in many TV shows and promoted the value of happiness and smiling.

She wrote 26 books on happiness and hope, including four published last year despite her illness. Her and her husband`s bodies were being kept at Ilsan Hospital.

Their son said, “We won`t set up a memorial altar in accordance with their will and will cremate them Sunday.”

bibulus@donga.com