West News Wire: South Korean boyband Astro vocalist Moon Bin was discovered dead at his Seoul residence on Thursday, according to his management company.
According to reports, the 25-year-old was discovered by his manager, who went to the singer’s house Wednesday night since he wasn’t returning calls. According to the Yonhap news agency in South Korea, police are looking into his death but have not yet discovered any indications of criminal activity. Calls for comment to the Gangnam district police station in Seoul went unanswered.
In a statement announcing his passing, Moon Bin’s management company, Fantagio, said that he “suddenly left us and became a star in the sky” and that his colleagues in the arts and the personnel of the business were mourning him with “very deep sadness and shock.”
Fantagio said Moon Bin’s funeral will be held “as quietly as possible,” with the attendance mostly limited to family, close friends and colleagues, based on the wishes of his relatives.
Moon Bin began his music career in 2016 as a member of the six-member boyband Astro, which debuted shortly after the singers appeared in a TV reality show. The group quickly found success in South Korea and Japan and was listed on Billboard’s top 10 list of new K-pop groups that year, with the magazine praising them for their “bright, synthpop sound that won over K-pop lovers from around the world.”
Moon Bin entered the entertainment industry as a child actor and landed a role in the 2009 TV series “Boys Over Flowers,” which was hugely popular in Asia. His sister, Moon Sua, is also a K-pop artist, a member of the girl band Billlie.
Several South Korean singers and actors have died by suicide in recent years, which has touched off soul-searching about harsh competition in the fast-growing entertainment industry, an abusive online culture and failure by management to address the mental health problems of their stars.
Last week, 26-year-old actress Jung Chae-yull was found dead at her home. Her agency did not say what caused her sudden death.
