Young K-actress Kim Sae Ron Laid to Rest as Her Passing Ignites Discussion About South Korea’s Harsh Cancel Culture on Celebrities Making Mistakes

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• It is always igniting discussions but un the end slips back to old habits. Old habits die hard. In short I dont see any change coming soon. And I suspect we will hear still hear of such news again and again this year.

  • Knetizens are currently bullying the next celebrity to commit suicide. Then they'll act shocked, rinse and repeat.

• It’s not the just the knetz but the industry itself that cut her out. Unlike Lee Sungkyung’s suicide which sent shockwaves through the industry it doesn’t seem like they reacted at all to KSR unfortunately. It was business as usual with very few celebs even acknowledging her demise despite the 17 years she gave the industry. I don’t know if this is a gender thing but it’s sad to see.

  • Why would you think it's a gender thing rather than a success thing? Lee Sun Kyun had a far higher national profile and he also committed suicide soon after his activities came to attention whereas Kim Sae Ron had to endure a year plus of criticism. People who drink and drive are absolutely criminals but Knetz went after her for daring to exist after.

    • The level of hate is in proportion to the fame of the victims of cancelation, which I agree, but also has much to do with the fame of celebs associated with the victims. Think about the example of prominent BTS Suga. I recall he got a lot of hate for just being caught wobbling on electrical motor pad to his apartment after drinking. IMO, his mishap did not deserve that much hate and vitriol. Another example is the hate Lee Jae Wook got from the news breakout that he was dating an Aespa idol. LJW has since been pretty quiet. As to KSR, I observed that at least on this blogging site, a lot of hate came from Kim Soo Hyun's fans. Don't deny it and accuse me of dragging KSH's name into her cancelation cuz it's a fact that so many KSH's rabid fans hate KSR posting that controversial picture with KSH looking totally wasted. It's a fact that people, fans of KSH or not, should not be able to deny. Not blaming KSH who's irrelevant to all this ruckus online cuz it's none of others' business to question his private life. But his rabid fans has been excessive, crossing the boundary to defend their idol. It's fans' behavior to disapprove of, not the celebs themselves.

      I'm saying this hoping no pile-on coming on the way, but will not be surprised to see that happen thanks to a lot of immature Asian drama fans.

    • Wait, I’m confused with the timeline. She was already cancelled because of the DUI incident which happened years before the photo controversy. Are you implying all the hate she got from the general public after the DUI incident were his rabid fans? No matter how big a fandom, their influence is never is big as the general public.

    • typo - electric moped, not motor pad LOL.

    • Somebody- you are very cleverly putting the blame on ksh fans by giving so many examples but not saying anything about ksr dui scandal which is well known.what about cancellation ?. I agree 100% with you about photo controversy reaction by ksh fans in this site it was not good. But what about hate ksh get by photo controversy and still getting for it.i have also observed that you write always negative about ksh but very smartly . I just want say 2-3 things did ksh upload the picture or why it is upload on year 2024 not 2023 ?2024 was special year? What about your favourite syj,her scandal & where ksh was dragged for Dating when both ksh &syj both agreed that were friends before the drama but still ksh got hate that time if you not believe go and check itob tvn comments section 60% hate comments were against ksh with out doing anything but you want to make believe that rabid fans should keep quiet and let the actor get the bullying when he not done anything. But your comment just want say that fans should be responsible & others specially media or youtuber who are making gossiping news which makes environment negative and trigger people should be given clean cheat. At last ksr life problem is example how every action has equal or opposite reaction . If you believe I have been part of bullying culture then you should check whole koala but you will not find me simply because I am not interested in actor personal life and please don't attack me by saying rabid fans but this site whenever ksh articles came hypocrisy can be seen but I don't care atleast success and slience best answer for hater & please don't reply me I am not interested for fight ,it is just my opinion & nothing against with any actor or actress personal life or anything

    • LOL @People, you're falling into the trap of excessive mental gym having all kinds of speculations about my motives as many did here. I wrote a lot negative comments about KSH cleverly? LOL was it a compliment? I had no idea I had that talent of backhanded compliment that I wish I did. LOL. Couldn't you tell what I've been critical of isn't the celebs themselves including KSH, but their fandoms and rabid fan behavior? Of course I had to reference celebs' names in order to pinpoint what fan behavior I disapprove of. And, I have to be honest, KSH fans are among one of the worst fandoms I've ever seen in Asian showbiz. What KSH fans are to Kdrama, what ARMY are to Kpop. LOL. In what ways did you see me slam KSH in particular? I'm only critical of his hit drama QoT which I dislike very much and am not shy of criticizing his overacting in the drama. That's it. Can't I? LOL. I'm a huge fan of KSH in Moon Embracing the Sun, I admired his acting in Dream High, and I think he was dang adorkable in the Producers. In what ways did you see me hating him (that you seem to smartly imply)? Or you're telling me that I can only worship him as many in my hometown Taiwan do to a carved idol, and I can't criticize his works? LOL. He's not my god that's supposed to be perfect! And, he's an actor that is subject to critiques for his works and visuals. Problems with that? Then it's not my issues though, but the problem of those whoever are uneasy about critiques of actors and their works.

      BTW, I'm not a fan of SYJ, to your disappointment LOL. But I do think SYJ a great actress, very talented, as I see the same in many other good K actors. I defended her when I saw unfounded vitriol against her from other comments (particularly out of rabid KSH fans), mostly to do with her private life. Why us keyboard nobody should be busybodies meddling celebs' personal lives off screen? I'll certainly be teasing about that. LOL.

  • Misogyny absolutely exists in south korea, and it's far stronger there than in other countries (for example, some idols getting hate just because they were spotted holding a book about feminism).
    However, in this case, I wouldn't say it's gender thing. Male celebrities there also get massive that's disproportional to what they did.

    For example, TOP got cancelled and was basically blacklisted in the industry for many years for... smoking weed. And to this day, he still gets hate from Koreans, so much so that he didn't attend the promo events for Squid Game 2 because he's afraid he would "ruin" it with his tainted image. When he attempted suicide, the media had a field day and people were still ruthless towards him, calling him an attention-seeker and accused him of faking suicide.

    Suga from BTS whose DUI case was far less severe than that of Kim Sae Ron (dude basically just fell off his scooter) got insane hate and was even sent funeral wreaths, which is just all sorts of f*uck*ed up. People petitioned to have him remove from his group, misinformation (including a fake CCTV footage) was spread to make the case sound worse than it really was, and for months now, his image is always removed from BTS montages and stuff.

    And there's Yoo Ah In. People threw a bundle of cash and a coffee cup at him, that's how passionate Koreans' hate for him is, when his only crime is abusing drugs. Now, don't get me wrong, I know it's illegal in Korea to abuse drugs and smoke weed. But at the end of the day, TOP and YAI didn't harm anyone, unlike those ra*pist and pe*do in the Squid Game cast and the people involved in Burning Sun scandal and Nth Room scandal. Yet Korean people's hatred towards these men I mentioned is so weirdly disproportionate to what they did. I don't recall Koreans sending funeral wreaths to actual criminals who actually harmed people. It's weird. I'd say more than a gender thing, it's more like Koreans having wack-ass priorities on who they will hold accountable and send hate to. It's insane.

• Will her death really make a change in SK? I certainly hope so.

• where is her money? she's been working all her life,how come she has so much debt?

  • I read she supported her family for years. And her dad set up a business too. I am unsure how much truth there is. But her DUI scandal is results in huge compensations from victims to sponsors to cancelled projects etc.

    • Hmm her family feels a little weird. I mean after 17 years as an actress, let’s say we should substract 10 years as child, shouldn’t 7 years let her be comfortable for a few years? And the news of her doing part time and stuff, I didn’t expect her money to run out so fast. The later news of her making a cafe is more believable though

• another victim of hypocryte korean people. Why can' celebrity / idol make mistake? they are human being not divine being. Young people sometime get sad and get drunk, its wrong but thats why there is vocabulary "I am sorry" and forgiveness. These people punished the celebrity or idol chase them to the death just because 1 mistake? so cruel , and those who point the finger I believe, that they get drunk more than our fingers. May the karma hit them back and hit them hard. Thats why all the korean youtuber who collect "the evidence" to destroy them further, to make news that they create etc can thrive...and this hypocrite people support them, hungrily subcribe and pay money just to see they destroy those celebrity. May the Karma hit them back and hit them 10x harder

  • Amen

• I agree so heartily, it's shameful and disgusting ! R I P Kim Sae Ron

• the thing is i feel like had she been male, they would have been more forgiving. some male celebrities have committed far worse transgressions yet made successful comebacks (over the top of my head, park shi hoo with my golden life). i know it's not an apple to apple case but that was sketchy as hell. their cancel culture is horrible but it just seems like they have this pristine images of females that you are not allowed to make a mistake. if you're male, they are more forgiving.

  • Why do you all love saying that it's a gendered thing? Yoo Ah In, Joo Ji Hoon, T.O.P., and Suga of BTS got lots of hate that's disproportionate to what they did too. I think the problem is that Koreans don't seem to think that sexual crimes are that big of a deal, that's why actors like Park Shi Hoo and other Squid Game actors were able to make a comeback. But those celebrities whose crimes were not sexual crimes got massive hate. The problem is that Koreans have weird priorities. They like acting like people who made mistakes or use drugs are way worse people than ra*pists, pe*dos, and other sexual criminals

    • when you said Squid Game actors, are you including LJJ? he had two DUIs back in the day and actually even hit another car. but it happened like 20 years ago before social media was so big, so he probably wasn't exposed to the same level of cyberbullying the younger celebrities are going through. the persecution these people have to go through nowadays are ridiculous. I still remember reading about people sending funeral wreaths to that one idol in some group for having a gf.

    • @Jia, are you referring to Lee Jae Wook who dated an Aespa idol and the latter got funeral wreaths from their rabid fans?

    • @Somebody I had to look it up because I cant keep up with all the boy groups. it was some idol named seunghan from a group called riize. there was a leaked picture of him with a gf pre-debut, and maybe smoking? but a lot of people smoke in korea so who knows what their problem is. but he got a ton of funeral wreaths sent to SM to kick him out of the group. the fact that these types of fans feel comfortable sending funeral wreaths is so effed up, and they act all shocked and sad when people actually end themselves.

  • misogyny is a big problem in korea but let's not act like male celebrities don't also get senseless hate...

  • I know Korea is a misogynistic country but it seems they have very high standard for celebrities; whether male or female. That BTS guy (forgot the name) was also trolled for hus accident when he hadn't even destroy anything and it was just an electric scooter. But the way they were going after him, you would think he had killed someone.

• They have started bullying Song Ha Yoon again someone commented that she is a murderer and some are leaving hateful comments. Everyone makes a mistake but we have to embrace and forgive them coz no one is perfect. I was a fan of Kim sae Ron but may her soul rest in eternal peace

• We've been hearing all this reflection BS like on Listen On Repeat. LOL and sad!

  This will go on online including this blogging site where many visitors also have track records of canceling celebs as long as they aren't their faves, talking almighty on high horses as cyber judges to give celebs guilty verdicts outside courtrooms for their missteps off screen.

  Koala posted similar mourning articles again and over again. I just haven't seen much reflection among those bashers and accusers at all. Reflection? They don't recognize this word in their dictionaries and have continued to be cocky about their self-righteousness. If these nosy gossipers just shut up and be forever gone from this site, I would say "good riddance!"

• This won't stop unless SK authority, like in Taiwan, makes it a crime to start or spread misinformation online including rumors and defamation against individuals. Many Taiwanese netizens have been brought to courts and received penalties for just telling tiny bits of lies online once their cases were reported to law enforcement and proved in courts to be disinformation and harmful to plaintiffs or the public.