Song Ji-seon, an MBC Sports Plus announcer, was found dead on Monday after apparently jumping from her 19th-floor apartment in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. 

Song, 30, was found bleeding and unconscious by a janitor of the 25-story officetel about 1:45 p.m. and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Police believe Song jumped from her apartment in an apparent suicide; a window in her apartment could be seen open after her body was found on the ground.

Song was in the media spotlight on May 7 when a posting on her Twitter page, implying an intention to commit suicide, prompted police officers and emergency workers to rush to her residence. In a later posting, she denied writing the first posting, although admitting that she contemplated killing herself over personal issues.

Song had been ensnared in a love scandal with a professional baseball player, for which she was suspended temporarily from her job as an announcer on a daily baseball program on MBC Sports Plus.

MBC Sports Plus was scheduled to announce disciplinary measures against her over the scandal yesterday afternoon.

In an interview with a local media outlet on Sunday, Song admitted that she had been dating Im Tae-hoon, 23, a pitcher for the Seoul-based Doosan Bears, for one and a half years.

On the same day, the Bears claimed the love affair between Im and Song was not true and Im wanted to be fully devoted to baseball.

Im, demoted to the Bears’ minor league team after the scandal made tabloid headlines, returned to his original position on the Bears on Sunday.

After Song’s death, Im’s Internet home pages were full of postings criticizing him and holding him responsible for her death.


By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]