Park Yong-ha, a Korean actor and singer, died on Thursday after committing suicide in his house by hanging himself from the cord of his camcorder charger. He was 32.
Following are some key facts about his life and career:
* Park Yong-ha was born on August 12, 1977. He graduated from the College of Media, Performing Art and Imaging Sciences at Chung-Ang University.
* He was the son of Park Seung-in, famed music producer during the 1970-1980s and manager to some of Korea's top veteran singers including Song Chang-sik, Yang Hee-eun and Jung Su-ra. Senior Park is currently suffering from late-stage stomach cancer.
* Debuted in 1994 through public network MBC's "Theme Theater" and made big screen debut in 1998 through "If It Snows on Christmas."
* Career took off in Korea and throughout Asia after starring in smash-hit TV series "Winter Sonata" alongside Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo in 2002.
* Other TV series included "Loving You," "On Air," and "The Slingshot" while films included "Although it is Hateful Again 2002" and "The Scam."
* Launched singing career in Japan in 2003, winning an award for best new artist at Japan's Golden Disk Award in 2005 to make him the first Korean to win an award at the event. He won awards for four consecutive years; for song of the year in 2006 and best asian artist in 2007 and 2008.
* Established his own agency YONA Entertainment in 2008.
* Mini-album "Once in a Summer" released in July 2009 reached No. 14 on Japan's prestigious Oricon weekly chart and fifth full-length album "STARS" released in June 2010 reached No. 16 on the chart.
* Had kicked off three-month long 16-city tour starting June 19 to promote "STARS."
* Was set to star in "Love Song," a small-screen remake of legendary Hong Kong pic "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" alongside actress Yoon Eun-hye which was scheduled to go into shoot in a month.
* Appointed as goodwill ambassador of non-governmental organization Good Neighbors in August 2009. Visited the Republic of Chad in Africa over several occasions to carry out volunteer work including donating money to help build a school there under his name, YONA SCHOOL.
Jessica Kim jesskim@
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