Yoo Joo-eun's funeral was filled with smiles after K-drama actress died by suicide
Trigger warning: Suicide
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: It seems that while K-drama actress Yoo Joo-eun’s may have left us, her friends and colleagues are doing their best to fulfil her wishes. Following her death by suicide, her funeral was filled with smiles that have now spread on Korean chat forums. On August 29, Yoo Joo-eun’s older brother had shared on her Instagram that she had died. To pay their respects, we had the actress’ former classmates attending her funeral and posting photos on their Instagram Stories.
Yoo Joo-eun was a rookie actress who made her debut in 2018 with a guest role in the slice-of-life K-drama ‘Big Forest’. Her next big drama was a year later in ‘Joseon Survival’ where she once again played a cameo. In 2019, she also acted in ‘Never Twice’ in a small role but that was it from Yoo Joo-eun who shared that while she wanted to act, living the life of an actress wasn’t easy. On August 29, following her passing, her brother shared her suicide letter as per her wish on her personal Instagram where she apologized for hurting her family. The letter also shared that she was in a better place and that she had some requests which her friends fulfilled at her funeral.
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Yoo Joo-eun's funeral is full of smiles
Yoo Joo-eun’s suicide letter was pretty heart-wrenching as she shared that she was “resolute and calm” and had lived a happy life. The actress also requested, “Please live well. I hope many people are called to my funeral, and I want to see everyone for the first time in a while and check in on anyone who is having a hard time.” This seems to corroborate with another personal wish the actress had requested of her friends. Following the smiling photos at her funeral, the Korean media outlet Dispatch dug into the matter and reached out to those who had attended Yoo Joo-eun’s funeral.
In the photos, alumni of Yoo Joo-eun’s university, Korea National University took photos in front of her photograph at the funeral. In one they are pointing at her. In another photo, they are making hearts with their hands and smiling. However, after zooming in, Knetz noticed that many looked wistful while some had tears in their eyes. The captions in the Instagram Stories consisted of ‘The princess is flying now’ and ‘Goodbye Joo-eun’. Alumna actress Park Ju-hyun of ‘Extracurricular’ fame had also mourned Joo-eun and had said, “I will pray that my sister will be able to fly freely, more beautifully than anyone else in that world.”
Well, according to Dispatch, her colleagues smiling at her funeral was as per her last wish. Yoo Joo-eun wanted her funeral to be filled wish smiles and happiness and had reportedly asked them not to cry. She had similarly written in her suicide note that she did not want her loved ones to be sad at her funeral. Yoo Joo-eun was only 27 when she passed away.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).