TV persona presumed to kill himself

TV broadcaster Woo Jong-wan, better known as a creative director in the fashion industry, died Saturday according to the police. He was 46.

The police presume the death was a suicide and is trying to uncover the motive.

Woo was found dead in his apartment by his sister at around 7:40 p.m. Saturday, an officer from Yongsan Police Station said Sunday.

Woo’s sister told the police that she had last seen her brother Friday while he met a friend and contacted her brother the following day but he did not answer. She sensed something was wrong and visited his apartment but Woo was already dead.

Investigators quoted her as saying that Woo had been extremely stressed from work.

Woo was a creative director in the field of fashion and interior design, marketing and merchandising and ran his own apparel company DirectorWoo.com. His company, however, did poorly in terms of sales and was already not in operation at the time of Woo’s death.

Woo was also a host for Talk & City, a fashion program on a cable TV channel.

Since he was on trial for a hit-and-run accident Woo had stopped appearing on TV. He was sentenced to eight months in prison with two years of probation.

Woo’s mortuary is set up at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Hannam-dong, Seoul.