- Baek Se-hee, South Korean author, died at age 35, cause unclear
- She donated her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, saving five lives
- Her memoir on depression sold over one million copies worldwide
Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author who gained popularity for her memoir, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, has died at the age of 35. Though details surrounding Baek's death are unclear, the Korea Organ Donation Agency said she had saved five lives through organ donation. The agency reported that Baek donated her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.
Her 2018 book, which became a cultural phenomenon across the world, dealt with the complex issue of depression. Originally written in Korean, the book is a compilation of conversations with her psychiatrist about her depression.
Baek's work has been translated and published in more than 25 countries, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Poland, with over one million copies sold worldwide. Baek's plain-spoken honesty and her effort to dismantle the stigma surrounding mental illness in Korea led to widespread critical acclaim.
"The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too," she wrote in the book.
A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was published in 2024.
"(Baek) wanted to write, to share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope. Knowing her gentle nature, incapable of harbouring hatred, I hope she can now rest peacefully," Baek's younger sister said in a press release.
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'Feeling Of Wounded Heart'
Born in 1990, Baek studied creative writing in university before spending five years working behind the scenes in publishing. Baek often said she hoped her work could offer comfort, or at the very least, recognition.
"Even across different languages and cultures, I realised that the feeling of a 'wounded heart' is the same everywhere. It still amazes me that my story has touched someone else's heart. At the same time, it's sobering to think that so many people carry deep inner pain and that it takes great courage just to say: 'I'm not okay,'" she told The Korea Herald.
Anton Hur, who translated Baek's book into English, paid a glowing tribute to Baek, stating that she touched millions of lives with her writing.
