Jung Won-kwan, a former member of the group Fire Truck, mentioned the death of Kim Hwan-sung, a member of the group NRG that he had produced in the past.
On the 16th, a video titled ‘Singer Jung Won-kwan Episode 5 (Finally thought I would get 1st place with ‘G Cafe’)’ was released on Song Seung-hwan's YouTube channel.
On that day, Song Seung-hwan mentioned, “After Fire Truck, you didn’t do MC or DJ for a while, right?” To this, Jung Won-kwan replied, “It seems like it’s been over 10 years. I took breaks in between, but I did it for a really long time. The reason I stayed in broadcasting for so long was also largely due to my business,” adding, “I felt that if people continued to know me, it would be easier to do IR (introducing the company to investors, etc.). So I thought I shouldn’t let go of broadcasting. It was tough.”
He added, “I was exhausted from that waiting. There were many nights where I had to wait and work. But this was a means for me to work, so I worked hard. In the meantime, I was also producing.”
In response, Song Seung-hwan mentioned the group NRG, which Jung Won-kwan produced along with Kim Tae-hyung. Jung Won-kwan said, “There was a group called Harmo Harmo, and after that, I worked on NRG's second album before I became independent,” discussing his entertainment business.
He then mentioned, “After the first album of NRG, one of the members (Kim Hwan-sung) suddenly lost his life. He died of sepsis. He caught a cold, but after having his wisdom teeth removed, that area got infected, and he suddenly died within 3 days,” expressing sorrow over the late Kim Hwan-sung's death.
Jung Won-kwan reflected, “After experiencing that incident with my friend, I thought I needed to take a break. After that, I didn’t engage in entertainment and took a break for several years,” mentioning the emotional toll from Kim Hwan-sung's death.
Kim Hwan-sung, who debuted as part of the five-member boy group NRG in 1997, passed away at the young age of 19 on June 15, 2000, just three years after his debut. He was hospitalized on June 6 due to cold symptoms and was moved to the intensive care unit three days later due to high fever and respiratory distress, eventually falling into a coma and passing away nine days after being hospitalized.
The cause of death was determined to be an unknown viral acute respiratory disease. NRG was a group that was actively working in China, and there were suspicions that he may have contracted SARS or avian influenza during their activities in China.
[Kim So-yeon, Star Today Reporter]
