Kim Ji-hoon of the duo Duke was found dead in an apparent suicide in a hotel room in Seoul on Thursday. Police said Kim was found hanging from a noose in the shower booth of the room in the early afternoon.
A friend found his body after Kim did not show up for a lunch appointment. The singer had been staying in the hotel since Dec. 6. He left no suicide note.
The singer rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the K-pop group Two Two but was quickly forgotten. In 2000 he formed Duke to survive in the cycle of ups and downs of the entertainment industry, but he did not get much attention. In 2005 and 2009 he was arrested for taking drugs and in 2010 he divorced his wife.
Friends said Kim had since suffered from psychological strain and financial woes.
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