Wailing K-Pop fans bid farewell to SHINee singer Jonghyun

South Korea has one of the world's highest rates of suicide,which is the chief cause of death of those younger than 30, andofficials urged distraught young people to seek help.

"Copycat deaths after high-profile celebrities'suicides arevery common," said Shin Eun-jung, an official of the KoreaSuicide Prevention Centre.

"The late K-Pop singer was very popular among teenagers, whotend to be particularly vulnerable to emotions and traumas."

Weeping, wailing and embracing one another, young men andwomen dressed in grey and black lined the road as a hearsecarrying Kim's coffin left the hospital in the South Koreancapital.

"I am so sad that I cannot even cry," an 18-year-old Chinesefan, Chen Jialin, said at the funeral. "My heart aches so much."

Kim, 27, was found unconscious next to burning briquettes ona frying pan in a serviced residence in Seoul on Monday, policetold Reuters.

He died later at a hospital, with officials calling hisdeath an apparent suicide.

High suicide rates

South Korea's suicide rate of 24.1 per 100,000 residents in2015, according to the latest data from the World HealthOrganization, was more than double the global average of 10.7. In 2016, the nation of 51 million reported an average of 36suicides a day, the government has said.

"We closely monitor news outlets as well as the number ofsuicides after celebrities' deaths to prevent a suicide contagion among the broader public," said a health ministryofficial.

Studies have shown that high-profile suicides can not onlyprovoke more deaths, but also spur people to adopt similarmethods, Shin added.

The concerns spread to Thailand, where officials onWednesday urged vigilance for fans of Korean pop music who mightbe at risk of committing suicide.

"Fans who are emotionally weak and depressed are at highrisk when it comes to imitating what their idols do," SamaiSirithongthaworn, a Thai mental health official, told Reuters.

Demanding lifestyle

Kim spent nearly a decade as one of five members of SHINee,as well as being a solo artist. His death was a massive blow tothe fans drawn to Korea's K-Pop music worldwide. A song by the group BTS had held a spot on the Billboard 200list for seven weeks as of the end of November.

But there were signs that Kim's glittering public life hid adarker personal side.

Yonhap news agency said Kim sent a final message to hissister asking her to "let me go."

A day after his death, a fellow musician published a notereceived from Kim two weeks before. In it, the singer said he was "broken from inside" and hisdoctor had failed to tackle his depression, blaming Kim'sunhappiness on his personality instead.

"The depression that had been slowly eating me up finallydevoured me and I couldn't defeat it," he wrote.

K-Pop singers can face demanding lifestyles as they areoften groomed by music companies from an early age.

"As top stars gain popularity, they are very much deprivedof private life," said Seok Jeong-ho, a psychiatry professor atGangnam Severance Hospital.

"As mental problems cannot be seen, the importance ofimmediate treatment is often neglected."