Choi Sung-bong, a singer renowned for placing second in the audition program "Korea's Got Talent," has died after allegedly committing suicide, media reports said.
He was 33.
Choi was found dead by police at his home in the Yeoksam-dong district in southern Seoul at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday, according to police and fire authorities as quoted by Yonhap news agency.
The operatic pop singer gained public attention after taking the runner-up prize in "Korea's Got Talent" aired by tvN in 2011, but he largely fell from public view in 2021 after he received large sums in sponsorship by falsely claiming he was fighting against multiple cancers.
He had since confessed his wrongdoings and promised to return the donations he received, the South Korean news agency reported.
Police believe that Choi killed himself, considering the circumstances at his home and a note he uploaded to his YouTube channel the day before to imply a suicide.
The note said, as quoted by Yonhap, "I sincerely apologize to all who suffered from my foolish mistake," adding that all donations were returned.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.