K-pop star Sulli's suicide sparks petition demanding real-name comment system to end cyberbullying in South Korea
South Korean singer-actress, Sulli, took her own life on Monday, October 14, following a barrage of malicious online comments after she digressed from the conservative culture that most K-stars adhered to.
The singer's death has now sparked off a national campaign against cyberbullying.
Shortly before her death, Sulli, a former a member of top girl group f(x), spoke out against the lack of laws governing cyberbullying in her country that posed a threat to artists like her if she dared to stray from the accepted conventions of the society.
Sulli, real name Choi Jin-ri, habitually ventured away from the K-pop world's careful brand management, which included unveiling her romantic relationship at the height of her career and encouraging her followers to ditch the bra. As a result, she soon became a victim of a stream of negative online comments.
Police said she was suffering from severe depression before her death.
Following her death, Sulli's fans flocked to the website of the presidential Blue House to file a petition urging the government to pass a bill enforcing a real-name online comment system.
Local web portals in South Korea such as Naver and Daum still allowed people to leave comments anonymously and, as a result, made it easier for bullies to target people.
"The freedom of expression is a vital value in a democratic society, but insulting and hurting someone else's dignity is beyond that limit," said Lee Dong-gwi, a psychology professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. "There need to be far harsher penalties for those who violate that law."
Kwon Ji-an, better known by her stage name Solbi, a fellow South Korean singer and painter, said that she admired Sulli for her fight for freedom of expression. "She wasn't just an issue-maker but I hope she will be remembered as a women's rights activist who was free-spirited, who could truly speak her mind," she said, Channel News Asia reported.
Kwon also opened up about her own experience of facing cyber insults when she was a member of K-pop group Typhoon, after a woman in a viral sex tape was wrongly identified as her.
"I was too young and socially immature to digest all the glamour and changes in the environment, and there's no self-medication whatsoever," Kwon said. "Then how do you respond to all of those vicious online comments? If you explain, they'll dismiss it as an excuse, and if you fight, they'll dislike you even more."
She added that as a result of the incident, she went through social phobia and panic disorder, She eventually turned to painting as a form of therapy and it ended up becoming the source of her "survival."
"I'd gotten treatment out of desperation that I really wanted to live," Kwon said. "I don't get hurt any more even though I see those malevolent online comments, but now is time to discuss it as a serious social issue."