Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Female Football Player Found Dead in Motel
A player from the Seoul City women's football club was found dead on Thursday in an apparent suicide after leaving the team's training camp on Wando Island, off South Cholla Province.

The body of the 23-year-old, identified as Choi, was found in a motel in the southwestern city of Kwangju near the training venue. The motel employee who found the body said, "She checked in the previous evening for one night and hadn't checked out by late Thursday afternoon, so I went to her room." A three-page note was found with the body. Part of it said, "It's so tough to live. Sorry Mom, and my captain."

The players are in constant, tough competition, as salaries are based on competency. Those at the bottom of the 26-player squad are paid 19 million won ($18,890) a year. If players' contracts are not renewed at the end of the year, they have difficulty finding an alternative, as the country only has three semi-professional clubs, classed as "business football teams."

There were also claims that Choi had financial worries as she gave most of her salary to her mother.
By Moon Gwang-lip, Korea Times (March 4, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200503/kt2005030417324311990.htm

[textin]

very sad, as was the death of the actress last week.

[Derrek]

Didn't someone on here say that they heard a rumor that the actress committed suicide because of giving all of the money to fund the mom's gambling habit?

[Universalis]

I heard two rumors regarding Lee Eun-ju's suicide.

First, as you mentioned, her Mom's debt from gambling. I also heard that her brother had some financial difficulties from his failing business.

I hardly have any sympathy for anyone involved in the Korean entertainment industry, seeing as how stories of its corrupt nature are legion and these people choose to get involved. But the Lee case highlights something important to keep in mind: these people are basically gravy trains for all their agents, family members, friends, and other sycophants to hang on. I can only imagine how much pressure they get to continue the path they're on, regardless of their own wants and desires.

Brian

[Yaya]

Yeah, the amount of money that these entertainers earn are a small fraction of what they rake in. The producers, agents and other people all take their chunk.

Sad to hear yet another person took her life.

[rapier]

[Real Reality]

rapier wrote,
"The average Korean leads a desolate life:..."

Some professional therapists agree with you.

We live in an era where the escalating divorce rate, alcoholism, anxiety and depression affect the psyche of every Korean in some way or the other. Just about every Korean suffers from soul-deadening mental, physical or emotional tiredness.

Professor Chey would like Koreans to "look inside" and explore their inner worlds. When she returned from the United States nine years ago, she noticed a lot of anger and stress in Seoul. "Koreans tend to think the problem is caused by someone else, that it does not lie within the Self," she said.

"But first of all we must do complete self-examination. Our history testifies that Korean people have lacked serious self-examination," he [Professor Rhee Dong-shick] explained.
by Lizette Potgieter, Korea Times (March 18, 2004)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200403/kt2004031817153511680.htm

I hope the new mental health centers will help.

New Mental Health Centers to Help Prevent Suicide
An additional 120 mental health clinics will be set up across the nation by 2008 to prevent deaths by suicide. The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday announced measures to increase public mental health centers and financial support for low-income earners receiving treatment for mental illnesses. Currently, there are 126 public mental health centers in Korea.

South Korea has posted the highest growth in the suicide rate among member nations of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 1982. Suicide became the fifth-largest cause of death in Korea in 2003, up from the ninth in 1993. In 2003, 10,932 people took their own lives, with one suicide taking place every 48 minutes.
By Bae Keun-min, Korea Times (March 4, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200503/kt2005030417372410510.htm

[Yaya]

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

I think Koreans live better than Americans. As an American I am jealous.