On October 14, 2019, K-pop Star Choi Jin-ri, also known as Sulli, committed suicide at age 25. Her manager found her body in her home after Sulli did not respond to calls for hours, stated Official Kim Seong-tae of Seongnam Sujeong Police Department, according to The Associated Press. After police found her body in her home, they were led to further investigate the secret life of the feminist and singer who was targeted with many negative comments from netizens.
She was a member of the girl group f(x), which debuted in August of 2009. The five girls (Sulli, Victoria, Amber, Krystal, Luna) came out with the album “Pinocchio.” As soon as they debuted, f(x) was loved by many of K-pop fans. However, like many rookie groups, they received hate comments and internet trolls, among which the main target seemed to be Sulli.
Sulli was a woman who was skilled in multiple areas, starting off her career as an actress when she was 11 years old, in 2005. Between years 2006 and 2008, Sulli played minor roles in multiple dramas. After that, she auditioned for SM Entertainment in 2007 and was cast as a trainee. She worked hard as a trainee until she took the opportunity to debut as a member of f(x) in 2009.
Sulli picked up her passion in acting three years after debuting; she starred as the lead in the drama To the Beautiful You. She also acted in two other dramas in 2012 before leaving f(x) in August 2015. Not only that, Sulli starred as the lead role again in the drama Real in 2017 before featuring in the song “Dayfly” by Dean in 2018. Sulli made her debut as a solo artist with the single album “Goblin,” which she released on June 29, 2019.
Also in 2019, Sulli took part in the variety program, The Night of Hate Comments by JTBC2, in which she shared various negative and hateful comments she had received and how she responded to them. As she recalled multiple experiences she had with malicious netizens, she said that she wished “[…] people would look at me and think, ‘Well, someone like that exists!’”
Sulli, or Choi Jin-ri, was a very talented and she did not deserve to be battered with hostile comments, and she was strong to keep going. Her death highlights to the K-pop community that we must make a change to this once and for all. Cyberbullying towards idols must stop; they work their whole lives to get to where they are, and they do not deserve any of this. The K-pop community mourns for you, Sulli. Rest in Peace.
Article by Joelle Lee of Herbert Hoover Middle School
Photo courtsey of Wikimedia Commons