Late actress Choi’s former manager found dead

The former manager of late actress Choi Jin-sil was found dead on Thursday morning in a motel room in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul.

The body of the man identified only as Park was found by motel staff at 2 p.m. Wednesday after he failed to check out on time. He had checked in at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

No note was discovered at the scene, but empty boxes of tranquilizers and sleeping pills have led police to suspect suicide.

The manager was the last person to be with the actress before she committed suicide in October of 2008 after she went through a divorce and suffered cyber harassment related to the suicide of actor-singer Ahn Jae-hwan. As a cinematic sweetheart appearing in both television series and movies, Choi’s suicide shocked the nation.

A string of suicides by family members and people close to the actress have followed in the years after her death. A year and a half after she committed suicide, her younger brother, singer Jin-young, also killed himself. Earlier this year in January, the actress’ ex-husband, Cho Sung-min, also died in an apparent suicide.

By Cha Yo-rim (yorimcha@heraldcorp.com)