If you are looking forward to see Park Yong Ha (inset) in Love Song, an upcoming Korean drama adaptation of the Chinese movie, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, you would be terribly dissapointed. The star of the 2002 television hit Winter Sonata was found dead, hanging from a cell phone charging cable at his house in Seoul Nonhyundong by his mother. Apparently, the 33 year old actor had commited suicide. South Korea purportedly has the highest suicide rate among the 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In recent years, a number of high-profile people have killed themselves. The list includes Choi Jin-sil, one of South Korea’s most famous actresses and her younger actor brother, Choi Jin-young. Then there is the former President Roh Moo-hyun who jumped to his death and the ex-chairman of South Korea’s oldest conglomerate, Park Yong-oh of the Doosan Group who hanged himself with a necktie.Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. Do you suppose Buddhist first precept, I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life includes taking your own life?
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