Actress Suicide Most Shocking News This Year
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
The suicide of a female star was the most shocking news this year for Korean netizens. According to Naver, the nation’s largest portal and search engine, Sunday, the suicide of actress Jeong Da-bin drew the most concern of Internet users in the shortest time.
Jeong, who starred in popular dramas and films, was under heavy pressure to raise her status and ended her life at her boyfriend’s home last February.
Her death along with female singer Yuni, who also killed herself in January, sent shock waves throughout Korea and sparked a concern over copycat suicides.
Korea has the highest suicide rate among the OCED member countries and the nation has seen more deaths by suicide than those by car accidents.
Korean blockbuster movie ``D-War" was the second hot topic for 2007. The film, directed by comedian Shim Hyung-rae, drew the largest number of viewers in the domestic movie history with 2.9 million over five days last August.
It was also the country’s most expensive film, which cost $33 million and the film made inroads into Hollywood. However, some critics attributed the movie’s success to its appeal to patriotism and ignited disputes over the movie’s quality.
Coming in third was teenage star, Nam Bo-ra who is from a 13-member family. Nam's family was selected as distinguished residents of Seoul in 2005 and the 18-year-old girl appeared in a drama last year. Related to this, Korea is suffering from a low birth rate and the country has this year introduced several plans to increase it.
Actor Jung Il-woo also attracted attention from many netizens ― ranking his name fourth. His popularity has been in sync with MBC sitcom ``Highkick,'' which recorded remarkable viewer ratings this year.
A ghost story came next. Annually TV shows present scary stories around summer and this year a ghost story that takes place in ``Jayu-ro’’ scared the most people.
This year also has seen many stars’ weddings and among them the marriages of actresses Kim Hee-sun and Seo Min-jung were remembered by many netizens ranking sixth and eighth, respectively.
Performing artist Nancy Lang has appealed to many people with her unique and provocative performances and ranked herself in seventh. A diploma fabricator, Shin Jeong-ah, and singer Ivy who suffered from a ``sex video scandal’’ are also included in the hot topic list for 2007 in ninth and 10th place, respectively.