Pop singer Yuni was found dead on Sunday in an apparent suicide at her home in Inchon City, west of Seoul, according to police.
Investigators presumed that Yuni, a 26-year-old actress-turned-singer, killed herself around noon, quoting her 71-year-old grandmother as stating that she found the body hanging from the bar of a closet with a white waistband around her neck.
The grandmother, identified as Lee, reported the case to police right after she found the body upon returning home from church.
Yuni's mother told reporters at the mortuary that her daughter had been suffering from depression. "She was an introverted child, and it seems she has been hurt many times as she debuted at an early age", she said.
The news struck her fans by surprise especially because Yuni was scheduled to release her third album today and to make a music video.
While the police investigation into the exact reason for the death is underway, some believe the immense stress of her comeback after two years' hiatus was behind her death.
A graduate of Kyunghee University, whose real name is Lee Hye-ryun, she started acting in TV dramas and movies in 1996. After a brief hiatus, she released her first album in 2003, putting on a sexy image as a dancing singer.
Internet users were expressing concern over continuing suicides among those in the entertainment businesses and their possible influence on the youth. In February 2005, actress Lee Eun-joo, then 25, committed suicide out of depression. In 1996, pop singers Seo Ji-won and Kim Kwang-seok also killed themselves.
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