Kim Sung-jae (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: 김성재;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 金成宰; April 18, 1972 – November 20, 1995) was a South Korean

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, dancer, and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

, best known as a member of Deux, an influential early K-pop and

Korean hip hop Korean hip hop, also known as K-hip hop or K-rap, is a subgenre of Korean popular music. It is widely considered to have originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has since become increasingly popular, both in Korea and abroad. While ...

group that rose to fame in the early 1990s. Sungjae died of an apparent murder in 1995 at the age of 23. His girlfriend was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life in prison but was later acquitted on appeal. In 2019, Sungjae's girlfriend filed multiple injunctions to block SBS's investigative program, ''I Want To Know'', from airing an episode covering Sungjae's death.

Death

Several months after Deux broke up, SungJae released his debut solo album, ''As I Told You,'' on November 19, 1995. He performed the album's title track the same day on an SBS music program and then returned to his hotel room with his girlfriend and members of his entourage. He was found dead in his hotel room the next day, and police ruled the cause of death a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

caused by

karoshi , which can be translated into "overwork death", is a Japanese term relating to occupation-related sudden death. The most common medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attacks and strokes due to stress and malnourishment or fasting. Menta ...

, or overworking. However, 28 needle marks were later discovered on his right arm, and an autopsy found traces of an animal anesthetic in his body. Sungjae's girlfriend was convicted for his murder and sentenced to life in prison, but was later acquitted due to "lack of evidence."

Aftermath

In 2019, Sungjae's girlfriend filed multiple injunctions to block SBS from airing an episode regarding Sungjae's death on the investigative program, ''I Want To Know''. On September 7, 2022, a virtual avatar of Kim Sung-jae was unveiled by Persona Space and Galaxy Corporation, performing "As I Told You" with Sungjae's mother and brother in attendance.

Discography

With Deux

Solo album: ''김성재 (Kim Sung-jae),'' (1995)

* Intro ''0:59'' * 말하자면 (As I Told You) ''3:35 Title Track'' * 마지막 노래를 들어줘 ''3:53'' *작지만 큰 행복 ''3:41'' *더 이상은 ''3:17'' *너의 생일 ''3:31'' *도전! ''3:13'' *Let's Dance ''3:28'' *봄을 기다리며 ''3:33'' *염세주의자 ''3:17'' *Hip Hop 정신 (精神) (Feat. 이현도) ''5:07''

References