20th April 2023, Mumbai: According to his record company Fantagio, the K-pop singer Moonbin, a member of the boy band Astro, passed away on Thursday at the age of 25. Moonbin was reportedly found unconscious at his flat in Seoul’s wealthy Gangnam neighbourhood on Wednesday night, according to the police and local media.
Moon Bin, an Astro member who abruptly left this world on April 19, “became a star in the sky,” according to a message posted in Korean early on Thursday on Fantagio’s official Twitter account. Regarding the manner of death, no information was provided.
In the message, it was requested that everyone “refrain from speculative and malicious reports” so that his family could pay their respects in peace.
Moonbin quickly enlisted in the apprentice programmes for the Fantagio label. He was an actor and model before making his Astro debut in February 2016. Prior to one leaving in February 2023, the original ensemble consisted of six performers. Moon Sua, a performer in K-pop and a member of the girl group Billlie, is Moonbin’s sister.
Many of the thousands of grieving admirers who left comments on the label’s news expressed shock. “I’m deeply saddened to learn of the demise of one of the kindest persons I’ve encountered through music! Prayers to his loved ones, friends, colleagues, and fans!,” one user tweeted in reaction to Fantagio’s statement.
“I’m having trouble focusing on my work right now.” Someone else commented, “This really hurts.”
Other young K-pop performers have passed away in recent years, most notably Goo Hara in November 2019. She had been mistreated by an ex-boyfriend who tried to extort her using their sex tapes after they broke up.
Just over three months ago, Jonghyun, the band SHINee’s lead vocalist, died by apparent suicide. He was 27.
K-pop singers are discovered by agencies when they are still very young, usually in their early to mid-teens, and they live in a controlled atmosphere with intense musical and dancing training filling their days.
Recent official statistics show that South Korea has one of the highest rates of suicide in the entire globe, making it one of the top killers of persons under the age of forty.