Movie director jumps onto rail track

Movie director Bae Chang-ho / Korea Times file

By Lee Min-hyung

Movie director Bae Chang-ho was hospitalized Monday after suffering injuries in an apparent suicide attempt.

CCTV footage shows Bae jumping onto the rail track at Hanti Station, southern Seoul, at around 6 a.m., police said.

“He passed out as the train travelled above him,” an officer said. “He survived because there was enough space between the track and the bottom of the subway train.”

The station does not have platform screen doors.

Bae, whose injuries were not life-threatening, was taken to Yonsei Severance Hospital.

Police quoted the train driver as saying Bae threw himself on to the track.

“It is highly likely he tried to jump in front of the train, because there was no one else on the scene,” a spokesman said.

The train was delayed for 20 minutes.

A family member said the director had suffered from a sleep disorder over the past few months.

“We are shocked to know that he was in such a difficult and sensitive situation,” he said.

Since making his debut in the movie industry in 1980, Bae has won many awards as a director. He rose to stardom after his movie “Whale Hunting” drew a total audience of more than 400,000 in 1984.

Fellow film director Lee Chang-ho, 70, was the first person to visit Bae in hospital.

“Bae has facial bruises ― he can move his body, but doesn’t speak,” Lee said.

“He has been acting strangely at work recently. He looked weak and seemed to have no energy.”