SEOUL - Sulli, a former South Korean singer-actress, was a rare taboo breaker in a world where K-pop stars' every move is strictly monitored by their management, but her death has exposed the dark side of the industry that propelled a global craze.
Colleagues and experts said her death revealed the constant barrage of malicious online comments faced by young female artists in the public eye. Kwon, 35, better known by her stage name Solbi, was also subjected to cyber insults in 2009, when she was a member of K-pop group Typhoon, after being wrongly identified in a sex video that went viral online.She sought therapy and learned painting, which was meant to be a way of"survival" but eventually became another career.
In South Korea, local web portals such as Naver and Daum are a major channel of news consumption, which allow users to leave comments without revealing their real names. "The freedom of expression is a vital value in democratic society, but insulting and hurting someone else's dignity is beyond that limit," said Lee Dong-gwi, a psychology professor at Yonsei University in Seoul."There need to be far harsher penalties for those who violate that law."
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Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »