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| Late Kim Sung-min |
By Kim Rahn
Actor Kim Sung-min has been pronounced brain dead and his organs have been harvested for donation.
Doctors at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital pronounced Kim, 43, brain dead at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, two days after he fell into coma after a suicide attempt.
"The family said Kim's organs would be donated as he had wished," a hospital official said in a media briefing in the afternoon. "His organs ― kidneys, liver and corneas ― will be given to five people."
Kim was found unconscious by police at around 2 a.m. Friday after he hanged himself in the bathroom at his home in southern Seoul. The suicide attempt took place 10 minutes after his wife and son left home following a quarrel. She asked the police to check on Kim, who used to talk about suicide when he was drunk.
Police transferred him to the hospital, and Kim, in cardiac arrest, was put on artificial respiration. The doctors attempted therapeutic hypothermia but were unable to save him because Kim's condition was too far gone.
Kim, who started acting in 1995, rose to stardom with his soap opera debut "Miss Mermaid" (2002), grasping the rookie of the year award for the lead role. Following several more appearances in dramas, he built a fun, positive image with the variety show "Qualifications of a Man" from 2009 to 2010.
But in December 2010 he was indicted for possession and habitual use of methamphetamine and sentenced to a suspended jail term.
He attempted to make a comeback, appearing in some cable channel dramas and movies. He married in 2013. But Kim was again caught using drugs last March. He served 10 months in jail and was released in January.
