"commodities from whom a few powerful agencies can squeeze as much income in as short a time as possible"

As we enter 2020, suicide and celebrity suicide remain huge problems in South Korea.  Kim Dae-o writes things are actually getting worse, not better:

"South Korea’s entertainment industry itself has to bear a lot of the responsibility. It treats celebrities as commodities from whom a few powerful agencies can squeeze as much income in as short a time as possible. Many celebrities are spotted as children and are not taught valuable life skills, only how to sing and dance. The situation is worse for female celebrities, with the public more interested in every salacious detail of their lives.

We also have to understand why people feel moved to post vicious comments online. Our freedom of speech and privacy laws that allow commenters to remain anonymous need updating. At the moment in South Korea, someone who urges another social media user to die is fined an average of just $2,000 for their first offence."

It's economic, it's cultural, and it's a public health issue, and nobody knows what an effective answer would look like.