K-pop star Moonbin dead at 25 — music label

SEOUL, South Korea - K-pop star Moonbin, a member of the boy band Astro, has died at the age of 25, his music label Fantagio announced Thursday.

Local media, citing the police, reported that Moonbin had been found unresponsive on Wednesday evening in his apartment in the upscale Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul.

"On April 19, Astro member Moon Bin unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky," said a statement posted in Korean early Thursday on Fantagio's official Twitter page.

It did not provide any suspected cause of death.

The statement asked that everyone "refrain from speculative and malicious reports" so that his family can pay their respects and honor him in peace.

Moon Bin -- who performed as Moonbin -- was a member of the group Astro and also performed with a sub-group called Moonbin & Sanha.

The duo visited Manila last month for a fan concert.

Moonbin joined the Fantagio label's trainee program at an early age and debuted with Astro in February 2016, which at the time had six members.

Several other young K-pop stars have died in recent years, including two suspected suicides over one month in 2019. The two women, who were close friends, had been the subject of intense online bullying. -- Agence France-Presse/VBL, GMA Integrated News