South Korean Actor and Netflix Star Kim Sae-ron Found Dead at 24

Martin Holmes February 17, 2025, 10:07 am

Warning: The following post contains discussions of suicide.

South Korean actress Kim Sae-ron, who most recently starred in Netflix‘s 2023 K-drama Bloodhounds, was found dead in her home on Sunday, February 16. She was 24.

As first reported by the Yonhap News Agency, citing law enforcement, Kim’s body was found by a friend in Seongsu-dong, a neighborhood in eastern Seoul, South Korea, just before 5 p.m. local time on Sunday. While a cause of death has not been made official, police stated that they are treating it as death by suicide.

“We believe she made an extreme choice and plan to handle it as a suicide,” police told reporters, according to Yonhap.

Born on July 31, 2000, Kim began her career as a child actor, appearing in films such as A Brand New Life (2009) and The Man From Nowhere (2010). In her teens, she landed more leading roles, most notably in the 2014 film A Girl at My Door.

Kim also appeared in several television drama series, including Can You Hear My Heart (2011), The Queen’s Classroom (2013), Hi! School-Love On (2014), and Secret Healer (2016), which marked her first adult lead role in a TV series. She also starred in the series Leverage (2019) and Nobody Knows (2020).

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Her most recent role came in the six-episode Netflix K-drama Bloodhounds, where she played Cha Hyun-joo. However, her career took a downward turn in April 2023 after she was found guilty of driving under the influence when she crashed her car in Seoul a year earlier.

The actress was reported to have crashed her car into a guardrail, trees, and a transformer during the incident, causing a temporary power outage in the area, per Yonhap. She was fined around $14,000 but avoided jail time.

According to Variety, Kim tried to resume her acting career following the incident in a play, Dongchimi, but was met with backlash and later dropped out over health issues. The outlet also reports that much of her screen time in Bloodhounds was edited out in the wake of her DUI crash.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.