Choi Jun-hee after undergoing double-eyelid surgery. [Choi Jun-hee YouTube]
Choi Jun-hee after undergoing double-eyelid surgery. [Choi Jun-hee YouTube]

Choi Jun-hee, 23, the daughter of the late actor Choi Jin-sil, lost access to a second Instagram account after her first, which had 230,000 followers, was suspended last month.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, Choi's second Instagram account displayed the message: "Sorry, this page isn't available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed."

Choi has since opened a third account. When one user asked, "What happened to your second account?" Choi did not respond.

Choi announced on Oct. 1 that her first Instagram account, with 230,000 followers, had been suspended. At the time, she wrote: "They won't even tell me the reason. I'm going to send a formal letter of demand. I want to die. I'm so upset I've cried five liters of tears."

Instagram did not disclose specific reasons for the suspension at the time, but speculation arose that diet-related content Choi had posted may have been the cause.

Instagram's guidelines prohibit "content that uses eating-disorder-related terminology, content that focuses on visibly protruding bones in the arms or legs or sunken cheeks, content that includes methods of extreme weight loss, and content that pairs eating-disorder-related terms with restrictive dieting."

Choi's weight had risen to 96 kilograms as a result of lupus, a rheumatic disease she battled in the past, but she subsequently lost 55 kilograms and has consistently maintained a weight in the low 40-kilogram range. At 170 centimeters tall, her frame is considered thin enough to raise health concerns.

Choi had regularly shared updates about her diet on Instagram, along with related photos. In January, she posted a photo of a scale showing her weight at 42.5 kilograms and wrote: "I'm thinking of dieting even harder this year. I like being extremely thin, so I want to test how far I can go. People who pursue that kind of thinness will know what this feels like — once you succeed at dieting, you just keep wanting to lose more."

More recently, she wrote that she had attempted to reduce her rib cage using a corset "when I was getting into the extremely thin look" because she felt her ribs were too wide, but gave up after deciding it was distorting her proportions. In a separate post, she said corset rib training "is common these days."

Social media platforms have been tightening regulation of eating-disorder-related content. YouTube, for instance, drew wide attention after strictly applying its guidelines on eating disorders and binge eating, demonetizing some mukbang and diet creator channels and removing hundreds of videos.

If you're thinking about self-harm or suicide, dial the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 109, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please request a translator for English-language services.


paq@heraldcorp.com