Joo Chul Hwan, a professor at Ajou University in Suwon, was criticized after speaking lightly about Goo Hara‘s recent passing. Joo Chul Hwan was once a PD for multiple variety shows before joining Ajou University as a professor for the Culture Contents Department.
During one of his lectures, Joo Chul Hwan brought up the Goo Hara’s recent death by suicide. He claimed Goo Hara died because she did not have a strong enough mentality to withstand the malicious commenters.
You end up like Goo Hara if you don’t have a strong mentality.
Why do you think people cursed at others? It’s all an inferiority complex. Why would you make an extreme choice because of them? You don’t need to.
You need to have a strong mentality.
— Joo Chul Hwan
He believes that if Goo Hara had come to him for advice, she would not have taken her own life. He claimed she was “too weak“.
If Goo Hara had met me, she never would have died. I would have changed her. She was too weak.
It’s because she cared too much about what others think.
— Joo Chul Hwan
He also spoke lightly of Goo Hara’s legal battle against her ex-boyfriend, where he threatened her with an illegal footage of her during sex. Joo Chul Hwan claimed it was just a “mistake“.
What if student A made a mistake in high school and filmed a slightly erotic video and we all saw it? Why should A kill herself?
If it were me, I would have said, ‘So what? So what if others see it? What’s wrong with my body?’
You need to have a strong mentality like that. Why should you choose to [die] just because someone saw your embarrassing side? What good is that to anybody?
— Joo Chul Hwan
When his students and netizens began to criticize him for his vulgar and disrespectful outlook on Goo Hara’s passing, he tried to explain his side of the story.
He claims he will formally apologize at an official setting.
It happened during my lecture where I wanted to teach freshmen to love themselves.
I wanted to express how lonely the life of a star could be and how you need a strong mentality against the malicious commenters. That’s where an issue occurred.
— Joo Chul Hwan
Joo Chul Hwan is best known for her work back in the 1990’s for Quiz Academy and Sunday Sunday Night. He also worked as an executive for OBS and JTBC.
