Obituary
Model Kim Jong-seok died at 29, confirmed by his family
The DASHU model and tvN Skip contestant died on 4 June 2025, aged 29. His sister confirmed it on 6 June and asked the public to stop spreading unverified claims about him.
Source: Hankyung · Read the original report | Segye Ilbo · Read the original report | The Star · Read the original report | Gulf News · Read the original report
Kim Jong-seok, the South Korean model often spelled Kim Jong Suk in English, died on 4 June 2025, aged 29. His older sister confirmed the death on 6 June, the day of his funeral, in a post on his own Instagram account.
What his family said
An acquaintance was the first to share the news, on 5 June. The next day his sister wrote that the family was in the middle of funeral preparations and was watching false claims about her brother spread online. She asked people to stop repeating them while the family mourned, and said they would publish material to answer them. She posted that material on 9 June.
Police in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, gave Korean newspapers a short account of the morning he died, which Segye Ilbo carried on 9 June. Neither that account nor the claims his sister disputed are repeated on this page.
Kim Jong-seok’s modelling and TV shows
He started modelling in 2014, first for an online shopping mall. He became best known as a model for DASHU, a men’s hair and grooming brand, largely through YouTube videos made for it. His one television credit in the coverage of his death is tvN’s dating programme Skip in 2022, titled Skip Dating in some English reports.
Questions people ask
What was Kim Jong-seok’s cause of death? His family has not stated one, and we have found no official finding beyond the police account mentioned above.
Are Kim Jong Suk and Kim Jong-seok the same person? Yes. His name, 김종석, is romanised both ways. Kim Jong-seok follows the official Revised Romanization.
Did he act in dramas or films? The reports of his death credit him with modelling and with Skip. None of them lists a drama or film role.
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What is confirmed
- Confirmed by his family. He died on 4 June 2025, aged 29. His older sister confirmed it on his Instagram account on 6 June, the day of the funeral.
- Reported. Hanam police in Gyeonggi Province gave Korean newspapers an account of the morning he died (Segye Ilbo, 9 June 2025). Its details are not repeated here.
- Not stated. His family has not given a cause of death. We found no later official finding.
- Name. His Korean name is 김종석. English coverage spells it Kim Jong-seok or Kim Jong Suk.
- 9 June 2025 His sister posts the material she had promised, on Instagram.
- 6 June 2025 Funeral. His sister confirms his death on his own account and asks people to stop spreading unverified claims.
- 5 June 2025 An acquaintance first shares the news on social media.
- 4 June 2025 Kim Jong-seok dies, aged 29.
This report is an original write-up based on the statements cited above. Claims that no named source has confirmed are not reported as fact, and the page shows a new date whenever it is updated.
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