‘GIANT SQUID GAME’

Tragic Cause of Death for Netflix Star Who Was Just 24

Kim Sae-ron was a victim of Korea’s brutal social judgement, Yale professor says.

The Korean actor, Kim Sae-ron, who committed suicide Sunday, was subjected to a “giant squid game” in Korea after she was cancelled when she drunkenly crashed a car she was driving in 2022, a leading expert on Korean suicide has said.

Kim first appeared on screens at the age of 9 in the 2010 action movie The Man from Nowhere, and seemed set to have a glowing career as an actor, but her career was dramatically derailed after a drunken car crash in May 2022.

She hit an item of electrical infrastructure, causing a widespread but temporary power outage, which garnered particular attention as it caused some traffic lights and payment systems to fail.

Nobody was badly hurt, but Kim was publicly shamed and remorselessly trolled following the incident, and ultimately forced into hiding. She subsequently quit acting, and sought work waitressing tables to make ends meet.

She was seen again on screens in 2023 with Bloodhounds, but her scenes had all been shot before the crash.

Peter Jongo Na, a Korean-born professor of psychiatry at Yale, who has specialized in researching and preventing suicide in Korea, which has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries, posted on Facebook: “A society that buries people without giving them a chance to recover just because they did something wrong is not a healthy society. Our society, which abandons people who make mistakes or fall behind and moves on as if nothing happened, is like a giant squid game.”

He added: “I don’t often talk about individuals. The death of a person is the result of a combination of socioeconomic, psychological, and biological factors. However, I can’t help but think that actress Kim Sae-ron’s death was a death driven to the edge of a cliff.”

The professor said, “The last time I saw news about her was an article about her having a hard time making ends meet, and she was working part-time. I remember seeing all kinds of malicious comments not only in the article, but also in the cafe where she worked. How many lives have to be lost before they stop inflicting destructive shame without giving anyone a chance to breathe? This is a time when we need social dialogue and reflection. I hope the deceased rests in peace. My heart aches so much.”

Kim was found by a friend on Sunday at her home in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. She did not leave a note and there were no “signs of foul play,” reports said.

One official cited by the Yonhap news agency said: “We believe she made an extreme choice and plan to handle it as a suicide.”

Online commentators have drawn comparisons with the 2023 suicide of 25 year old K-pop star Moonbin.

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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