Goo Hara

Goo Hara
Goo at the Midnight Runners premiere in 2017
Born	(1991-01-03)January 3, 1991 Gwangju, South Korea
Died	November 24, 2019(2019-11-24) (aged 28) Seoul, South Korea
Cause of death	Suicide
Resting place	Skycastle Memorial Park Gwangju, South Korea
Occupations	Singer actress
Years active	2008–2019
Agents	KeyEast Ogi
Musical career
Genres	K-pop
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Labels	DSP
Formerly of	Kara
Korean name
Hangul	구하라
Revised Romanization	Gu Ha-ra
McCune–Reischauer	Ku Hara
Musical artist
Signature

Goo Hara (/ˈɡuːhɑːrə/; Korean: 구하라; January 3, 1991 – November 24, 2019), also known mononymously as Hara, was a South Korean singer and actress. She was a member of the girl group Kara, and had also appeared in television dramas including City Hunter (2011). She made her debut as a soloist in July 2015 with the release of her EP Alohara (Can You Feel It?). After Kara disbanded in 2016, she continued her solo career at another agency, KeyEast. Her solo career was interrupted in 2018 after she became embroiled in a legal case with her ex-boyfriend, Choi Jong-Bum, which was initiated when he assaulted Goo and threatened to release their sex video to harm her career. In June 2019, she continued her solo activities in Japan where she was well received by fans. Her last release was a maxi single "Midnight Queen", released on September 19, 2019.

Goo's death, ruled as a possible suicide on November 24, 2019, brought worldwide attention to sexual crimes against women in South Korea, one of which was the usage of molka (spy cameras) to discreetly capture voyeuristic images and videos of women. In response several petitions were submitted to the Blue House. One petition demanded a more severe punishment for filming sexual acts without consent and distributing it, and the other represented a need to revise South Korea's inheritance laws to prevent absent parents from claiming inheritance from their neglected children.

The inheritance laws were amended on December 1, 2020, with the bill carrying amendments titled "Goo Hara Act". As the amended law could not be applied retroactively, Goo's brother Goo Ho-in filed a lawsuit against their mother, who was said to have neglected her parental duties, to prevent her from claiming inheritance from Goo Hara's estate. The court awarded their mother 40% of the estate.