S. Koreans, Japanese mourn actor who committed suicide

SEOUL, South Korea - Wailing mourners wiped away tears Friday as they bid an emotional farewell to a popular South Korean actor and singer whose suicide stunned fans at home and in neighboring Japan.

Park Yong-ha, 33, killed himself Wednesday in distress over career and family pressures, the latest in a string of high-profile suicides in the Asian country.

About 100 fans - mostly Japanese women in black mourning attire - stood outside a hospital and surrounded the hearse carrying Park's coffin to a cremation site, briefly preventing it from departing.

His ashes were later buried in a public cemetery in the town of Bundang just south of Seoul following a funeral ceremony amid heavy rain.

Police have said Park had been under stress because he had to juggle management of his entertainment company and career while his father was fighting stomach cancer. The actor had been taking sleeping pills due to insomnia, police said, citing Park's mother.

Park was one of the most popular South Korean celebrities in Japan, where South Korean movies, television dramas and singers have developed a devoted following in recent years, mostly among women. One of his fans is Japan's former first lady, Akie Abe.