Why did Choi Sung Bong commit suicide? Suicide note & Cause of death Explained

Choi Sung Bong cause of death. (Source: Facebook)

Singer Choi Sung Bong (33), a KST, was discovered dead at his Seoul home on June 21. The circumstances leading up to his tragic death are the subject of the police’s ongoing inquiry. Keep reading to know more about the Singer Choi Sung Bong and his cause of death in detail.

Who was Choi Sung Bong?

Sungbong Choi is a South Korean singer. He graduated from the Dae-Jeon Art High School after passing the prerequisite exams for elementary and middle school, and he had his illustrious debut on Korea’s Got Talent’s 2011 season. He finished as the first runner-up in the talent competition.

Sungbong Choi was abandoned at an orphanage when he was three years old. He was born in Seoul. To avoid physical torture, he fled the orphanage, boarded a bus to Daejeon, and began living in the sleazy areas.

His decision to contact Jeong-So Park for a music lesson was a pivotal moment in his life. He received extra assistance from the church and ChildFund Korea when Park agreed to tutor him for free.

Education and Early Life

Choi graduated from Dae-Jeon Art High School after completing qualification exams for elementary and middle school and continued on to the Department of Cultural Art Management at Kyung-Hee Cyber University. Choi alleges that when he was 14 years old, he ran away from neighborhood gang members by hiding out at a night school.

In order to pass the elementary and middle school entrance exams and enroll in high school, he took reading and writing lessons and submitted an application. He enrolled to Dae-Jeon Art High School hoping to study music and make friends throughout his time there. He worked for a delivery business to pay for school tuition and private lessons, but the night shift caused a serious damage to him.

Choi expressed serious consideration for dropping out of high school, and his music teacher attested that he frequently missed class due to the poor living conditions. He was accepted to Hanyang University, but he was unable to continue his undergraduate studies because of financial constraints. He chose to work as a day laborer instead.

Korea’s Got Talent

Choi’s rendition of “Nella Fantasia” by Ennio Morricone on Korea’s Got Talent on June 6, 2011, brought judges and viewers to tears. He identified himself as a manual laborer who had spent the last ten years making a living by selling gum and energy drinks.

His voice ability impressed all three judges—Koleen Park, Jang Jin, and Song Yun-ah. Choi went to the competition’s finals, coming in second place by just 280 votes.

Choi’s performance video became viral after it was uploaded to YouTube, receiving praise from celebrities like Justin Bieber, BoA, Jung-Hwa Um, and several hundred thousand Facebook fans, as well as politicians like Lee Myung-Park, the former president of South Korea.

One version with English subtitles sparked interest from the international press and led to the perception that Choi was “the next Susan Boyle” globally. As of May 31, 2017, the video itself had over 168,201,756 views, and that number was still growing. 175,078,474 people have seen the video as of September 24, 2020.

On June 4, 2011, following his debut on the program, some individuals accused him of hiding the fact that he had graduated from an art high school, although he had little access to funds and was rumored to have been given his diploma out of sympathy. “It was cut from the film during editing,” the KGT production team explains. At the second local tryout, he announced to the judges, crew, and large audience that he had graduated from an art high school. Later, KGT aired the revised version that contained the statement.

Choi signed a contract with Sony Music Korea Inc. after his performance on KGT, however, he later cancelled the agreement in December 2011. Other significant entertainment corporations attempted to convince Choi to sign contracts with them.

His Book:

Singing is My Life – Memoir of My Journey from Homelessness to Fame, written by Choi about his life and profession, was published by Munhak Dongne [ko] in South Korea and is currently a best seller.

The attention and love he has gotten, which have been a wonderful source of comfort for him, inspired him to write the book, he added, because he does not want to live his life bound by his past.

ChildFund Ambassador

Choi served as an honorary ambassador for ChildFund Korea, an organization that gave him support while he worked to better his own life.

ChildFund, originally known as Christian Children’s Fund, is an international development agency with a child-focused mission. It aids children in 24 nations, including the United States, who are struggling with poverty and other issues. The headquarters of ChildFund is in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.

ChildFund offers services to kids that are primarily made possible by private donations in the form of monthly child sponsorships. Additionally, ChildFund receives grants and contributions that fund food distribution, educational initiatives, programs for the development of young children, health and immunization campaigns, nutritional initiatives, water and sanitation improvement, and emergency relief for both man-made and natural disasters.

He was an honorary ambassador for the Chang Dong Social Welfare Centre and currently helps malnourished kids, orphans, and foster families. He declared that instead of just encouraging the kids to “have hope and dream,” he would help them by providing them with the opportunity for a better life.

He often said that,

‘People who suffer have feelings that can’t be explained by words. I hope my performances provide some consolation and an uplifting feeling to those in need.’

He gave performances for underprivileged individuals such as multicultural families, single mothers, kids in foster care, hospice facilities, etc.

How did Choi Sung Bong die?

The 27-year-old Kim Jong-hyun, the lead singer of the wildly successful K-pop boyband SHINee, was found dead in a hotel room in Seoul, South Korea.

Police are treating singer Choi Sung Bong’s death as a suicide since he posted an unsettling “final message” on his YouTube page on June 17.

The 34-year-old musician expressed his intention to pay the price with his life in the suicide message, which included an apology for his errors. He claimed that despite his best efforts to survive each day, he had run out of energy. Even the address was put so the authorities could find his body.

On June 20, Choi Sung Bong wrote on the community section of his YouTube channel,

“Hello, this is Choi Sang Bong. The reason I am writing this is to send a letter to my fans for the last time in my life. If you’re able to see this, it means I am already dead.” 

“I sincerely apologize to those who have suffered due to my foolishness. I’m sorry. I repaid back all the donations that were given to me over the past two years. Now, I want to repay my sins with my life.

“I’m sorry to everyone who has helped me. I’m sorry. I think I endured for long enough. Please forget me. Also, I hope you’re happy in each of your lives.”

Cause of death: Why did Choi Sung Bong commit suicide? 

The circumstances leading up to his tragic death are the subject of the police’s ongoing inquiry. The singer has recently been in the news for lying about having cancer, being terminally ill, and asking for donations from the public for treatment. As a result, he has come under criticism.

The police reported that on Monday, he sent Kim’s older sister a text message in which he seemed to be planning to commit suicide.

The Instagram account of Nine, a member of the contemporary rock band Dear Cloud, posted a longer suicide note on Tuesday. The note was given to her two weeks before Kim’s passing, according to Nine’s management.

Musician Nain9, a close friend of Kim, posted a suicide note on her Instagram page and that he requested that she do so in the event of his demise.

It said,

Kim claimed that his physician had cited his personality as the reason for his incapacity to recover from the depression. While Kim’s note did not specifically state what was burdening him, it does imply that being a celebrity added to the stress.

He wrote,

“Maybe I wasn’t supposed to come up against the world; maybe I wasn’t supposed to be known to the world; I’ve learned that’s what [makes my life] difficult. How come I chose that.” 

Choi Sung Bong, however, claimed that he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, prostate cancer, hypothyroidism, and thyroid cancer in 2020 as a result of the cancer he first had when he was 17 years old. Through social media, he informed his followers that he was having cancer treatment. After they raised money for the singer to release an album, his fans provided him with a lot of financial assistance.

Unfortunately, Choi Sung Bong revealed in 2021 that he had faked cancer to collect money from his admirers, upsetting the Korean entertainment sector. He disclosed that he did not have cancer but rather “major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

He made a live feed on what appeared to be a bridge and said he didn’t want to live longer after receiving hateful and malicious comments as a result of this dispute. The paramedics eventually arrived to pull him off the bridge, and he afterwards posted an apology.

Choi Sung Bong expressed regret for what transpired in 2021 in a recent letter and acknowledged that up until this point, he had done his best.

“I deeply apologize to those who have suffered due to my foolish mistakes and the harm I have caused. Over the past two years, I have returned all the donations to those who requested it.” -Choi Sung Bong.

According to WikiTree, who inquired at the neighborhood police station about whether Choi Sung Bong had subsequently been located, a police officer said, “We cannot provide any information.”

What is happening in the Korean entertainment industry?

The pressure in the Korean entertainment sector is well-known. It encourages a competitive workplace atmosphere akin to “The Hunger Games,” where only the fittest survive. Teenagers who may not be emotionally mature enough to withstand the discipline and scrutiny are often recruited as talented individuals. The Korean public has high expectations for conduct and looks, and they use social media to make snap judgements.

There have been countless additional young Korean stars who have taken their own lives since the late 1990s, when Korean pop, film, and TV dramas became an Asia-wide phenomenon. Many people have left behind messages describing the harm the industry causes.

One of the first K-pop stars to commit suicide was Charles Park, a Korean-American singer better known by his stage name Seo Ji-won, on January 1, 1996. In his own note, he voiced doubt regarding the follow-up album, which he had just finished recording before his passing, and its potential for similar success given the rapid success of his debut album. He was 19.

Female artists, including actors, have also committed suicide while mourning their despair and disappointment with the business. In her suicide letter, Jang Ja-yeon, who played a supporting role in the Korean adaptation of the popular TV show “Boys Over Flowers,” claimed that she had been forced to perform sexual favors for so-called sponsors who allegedly help actors land parts in well-known TV shows or movies.

According to a person close to the late actress Jeong Da-bin, who passed away in 2007, Jeong was despondent due to her lack of employment, her former manager’s incarceration, and internet criticisms of her beauty. The same year, singer-turned-actress U; Nee hung herself.

People close to U; Nee reportedly said in the police report that she had been discouraged as a result of internet criticism, particularly criticism of her seductive appearance.

We don’t yet know why Kim decided to end his own life. However, the final remarks of one of the most well-known acts in the field show some of the murky undertones that lie behind K-pop’s stunning, dazzling surface.

Tributes to Choi Sung Bong

Fans of the singer have been writing touching condolence notes on his YouTube community page since learning of his passing.

We wish him eternal peace and send our thoughts and prayers to his loved ones, family, friends. May he rest in peace.

Kindly use the comment box below to honor the death of Choi Sung Bong by leaving a tribute.

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