There’s a proverb saying

The nearer the church, the farther from god. We see the South Korean entertainment industry filled up with glamor, success, fandom, achievements and what not. But there’s always a darker side of every bright thing.

Something like that in the South Korean k-pop and k-drama industry. 

For a very long time the Korean Entertainment Industry has ruled the world by their versatility and uniqueness. Their songs, stage performances, drama content, casting, director everything has top notch popularity. But there’s something that we will never get to know by their smiling and glorifying image.

One of the most darkest side of this industry is Suicide. Korea has the fourth highest rate of suicide globally and no doubt it's because of their unable to express their inner feelings. The suicide rate is getting increasing day by day. The young artists are found killing themselves is easier than living in this cruel world. It has been seen for the past few years that brightening faces who amazed us all by their performances, are fading away with a blink of an eye.

In this year 2023 we have lost K-pop star MoonBin at a very young age of 25. He has committed suicide. Another K-pop star Choi Sung Bong, and Haesoo died this year leaving all of us numb. They might have a lot to say about their inner conflict, vulnerability and the injustice that happened to them. But gone too early. On that list we have JungChae-yull,Yoo Joo Eun,Sulli, Goo Hara Jonghyun and many more.Being trolled by the netizens, cyber-bullying or their mental breakdown are the major reasons for their lost interest in life. After the death of Sulli, her best friend committed suicide out of heinous cyber-bullying.

Another alarming dark side of the Korean Entertainment Industry is their contract policy that turned into slavery few times later. Their rough contract policy for seven years, it includes extreme physical challenges, day long practices going on till midnight, unhealthy diet, exhausting mental torture. The inhuman torture of the foreign trainers just to keep their celebrities picture perfect on Tv is insane. They are strictly forbidden to gain any pounds of weight and if someone puts on any calories the trainer makes them exercise 24/7. All of these acts put the idol into depression, anxiety and what not. The companies are only trying to create a standard for the idol where they can not be imperfect. This is the fault of the netizens too, they always demand to see their favorite idol to be perfect in all aspects. If someone doesn’t do well in their criteria that idol had to face unbearable trolling.

Another alarming dark side of the Korean Entertainment Industry is forced to have sex. One example is Jang Ja Yeon, she faced assaultation and was forced to serve drinks and to drink by her company. Later in 2009 she was found dead in her home. She's not only the one who have faced this. There’s several victims who were exploited by their company owner or related to them. In 2012, actress Jang Kyung Ah revealed that there's an actor who sells their body to get a role. No doubt she has suffered the same. That's why she came forward to open up.

However, right now there's so many agencies who are really concerned about the mental and physical health of their idol. For Example, we have seen the imbalanced weight of Bts members which is normal to the company. On the other hand, BLACKPINK's members are too relaxed in their agency which is a good thing.

So, how do you feel about all of these?

Let us know in the comment section.