first and

here we go again : S

how terrible. i feel sad for his family. i was hoping this year would be better. RIP.

Well..that's a good way to start the new year! Geesh don't this actor know that killing yourself will not lead you to a happy afterlife!

Even though i didn't know him, when i saw the headline, my heart was just going out of my body...
So many deaths last year and so many sadness... In fact, 2009 should be brighter but know, OMG, i'm so shocked. It is like saying : "no, it is not ending, it keeps on going...".
Frankly, I think something's odd with Korea because netizens are so hurtful. He didn't die because of it but most of the suicide are caused because of it and i'm fed up with it. It's time to change all this I think because I don't want to see others celebs dying because of depression and so on... So Sad.
RIP Kim Seok Kyun, so sad you're known because you're dead...

There are many who don't know the symptons of depression. Some patients just appear to be negative or annoying or socially withdrawn or anti-social, even to the close friends and family, which is very sad. Seek help if people around you, or yourself seem depressed for a while... it's a medical condition that can be managed.

The economy is bad and many may suffer hardship never imagined before. I hope people look up and remember when you're at the bottom, things can only get better in the future... not having things happening your way is not the end of it, and don't think no one cares for you.

RIP Kim Seok Kyun; my heart goes out to his family and friends.

:( rest in peace!

rip :( :(
may there be no need for posts like these in the future.

That's terrible. Rest in peace.

though he may be very depressed, its just still shocking to hear someone commit suicide...so many people wish they can have one more year or one more day to live, but he consciously threw away his life like that. I hope he's at least in peace right now. He will be missed by his loved ones.

I'm speechless. This is such a horrible thing, and may he rest in peace.

sigh...Rest in Peace Kim Seok-kyun. I panicked catching the title in blog reader. 'Please don't let it be someone I've enjoyed lots in a movie or drama...' Either way it's a tragic outcome. many actors kept at it and had success later, in their 30s, 40s even. (Gam woo-sung was 35 when King and Clown dropped in his lap; Kim yun-suk 41 when he made Chaser!) too many setbacks can break your spirit though...I wish he had people help in mending what was broken. ahn sung-ki once said they should but don't, have mental health resources for actors (even when you get jobs the acting process can be grueling on your psyche.) Kim looks a bit like Ryu seung-bum crossed with Oh kwang-rok, which is like gold for character actors.

@ "Tired and Hungry": Please keep the religious and/or judgmental overtones out of the conservation. Kim Seok-kyun's suicide was tragic enough. I hope he can rest in peace now and my heart goes out to all of his loved ones and friends.

RIP

Korea has by the far the highest suicide rate in all of Asia! It is followed by Japan (China's rates are low). Something is not right. Both of these nations went through severe identity crisis after WWII and the Korean War, and I really wonder if there is something to this. Although, Vietnam's suicide rate is not nearly as high. Maybe Koreans have a biological predisposition to depression? Honestly, Korea needs to address this as a national crisis because it is ridiculous that it is losing its young people to such a preventable disease!

I think U.S. rates will go up because of the coming financial crisis. We haven't even seen the worst of it, and as more people lose jobs and homes, depression will set in.

Very sad.

i love this guy so much!!! How could this happen?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I thought the bad year was over and in come this bad news.
It's really sad that we only know him because he made this headline.

Will we ever find out what make him so depressed to do this.

these actors and actresses really need to get their sh** together...My condolences really but seriously who in this world doesn't face hardship? or whatever the problem is they seriously need help killing yourself should not even be on your mind if you fall get up and start all over again people! thats the only way you can achieve greatness have faith and dammit ..u're killing urselfs cause of money u owe, people criticizing you n stuff like that come on didn't you get bullied in high school?...live your life to the fullest! and forget them haters...i swear if anyone in my family committed suicide i'd beat them an extra 10 feet into the ground!..I think they shouldd go to africa n SEE hardships if people decided to commit suicide there about 70% of Africans would be dead by now!

This is too sad....

I nearly cry hearing this.

I'm already missing home because of college and now hearing this... :'(

RIP KSK

May he rest in peace,
Depression is a silent illness and it is a mental disease, someone like your best friend might suffer from it and u might not be able to realize it..... severe symptoms include negativity, sadness, lack of sleep, mood changes, hopeless feelings, etc.

For a moment i thought it was Ryu Seung Beum's pics too..but i'm saddened by this..RIP Kim Seok Kyun..

There is no guarantee of success in showbiz. It's a tough career. RIP Kim Seok Kyun.

depression is no joke. when depression sinks in, people just become withdrawn and some ppl may still even enjoy jokes with others only to feel really blue later. i believe that friends and family are really most important in this. but...sometimes, it still happens.

rip.

Thank you for deciding on posting this. Rest in peace.

Oh no... another one?? This is too sad!! Is it me, or does he look like Ryu Seung-Bum?

yes he did look like RSB from Beast and the Beauty -- oh my not again? such a young man and you wondered why so many Koreans commit suicide! it's probably easier said than done but life is so precious and you'd think there's always a way to improve your life but again it's easy for us to say! may he rest in peace & my prayers are with him & his family!

what he just 4 years in showbizz nobody step fast right,,?? i hate this
i think there are a lot of big actor now ,, play in Small role and always be in supporter acting like kim yoon seok and song kang Ho.. they in this show biz for long time then now they are famous

at first i was shocked since i thought it was Ryu Seung Boem...

i might sound insensitive, but i'm pretty much numb to these suicides now... now that's a problem...suicides have become almost normal now... how sad...

I feel like such a sick person because the deaths have become so numerous I'm almost emotionally numb. I still haven't forgotten Choi's death.
The world is a sick place.
I wonder if the Korean netizens are satisfied.

the world is a really rough place...i'm literally sick of hearing about all of these korean celebrity suicides...

i didn't want to comment but having gone through severe depression myself this news just struck a deep chord...

how many more people have to lose their lives before everyone realizes there's something wrong with an industry where you're considered unworthy of life after age 30...and a society where life is meaningless without youth, beauty, fame and money...

People in the West are fast to blame it on a medical condition rather than pulling back and looking at the whole picture as the cause of suicide--Did you see the post up there that asked if Koreans are predisposed to depression? You've got to be kidding me!

Suicides, in general, will be high in a changing society such that people cannot keep up, or at least feel like they are slipping because the things they expect out of society are no longer stable as they expect them to be. New Korean words are popping up in a matter of months. A friend of mine said she went back and then went back a month later to find that Korea has changed drastically. Even the money had changed!

Korea is in flux and it's not just a physical flux, but a mental one as well. When you take a country and force 200 years of technology and adaptation in the space of 60 years and the speed of development is faster than the government can account for, of course you'll get suicides. You can't turn an agricultural state into an industrial one without some fall out and feeling lost. If it wasn't France's The Gleaners, then it's Japan, Korea-- all countries have gone through this when industrializing.

Japan also has a high rate of suicide, but then, their economy went through a similar thing--after WWII their government got gutted, a white guy (MacArthur) rewrote the rules, and they had to change direction. Natsume Soseki wrote about that one in Sensei and I. The recent rates probably are due to the fact that the economy changed drastically from the 1990's when Japan was booming and Women's rights were coming to the forefront as issues, but then it turned when the economy did too.

When the environment around you changes faster than your mind can keep up with the uneasiness can translate quickly into what people might term as "chemical imbalance" and thus depression, but it's really failing to see the large picture. You would feel uneasy and depressed too. If your parents redecorated your room without telling you every night, you'd feel the same way too.

China doesn't have these issues as much since it was opened a lot sooner than Japan and Korea. It also went through two economic changes and had a history of government upsets meaning it was much easier for the current people to adapt to the given environment.

So I don't think it's restricted to actors in these times, I think it's a country-wide problem of having to adapt to a technological base that's going faster than the people can adapt to. Even the government is having trouble making rules for the industrial state... It's going to be a while before Korea catches up to herself. Ahh! My poor country.

But still, RIP.

We gonna have to start counting for 2009 now.

God, please not make it hit the double digits - sigh-

It's truly terrible & tragic. It's very sad when someone sees no way out and has nothing to live for and chooses to end his/her life.

May he rest in peace......

I think Carol (# 18) made a really good point - for many people in other part of the world (for example Africa) everyday is a struggle just to survive. I don't know what the suicide rate is in those parts but you hear about people doing everything they can to live, to feed themselves and their children whatever it takes. Instead of what appears to many of us as the "easy way out" by killing themselves, if they could see those people in those areas and the living conditions they live in, mabye just maybe they would count their blessings and think twice about killing themselves........
Anyways I don't really know this actor but I still feel bad that he killed himself. My condolences to his family and friends........

sorry for is family