Former K-pop idol Shim Jaehyun dies at 23 from leukemia

Shim Jaehyun, a former member of the K-pop boy group Fable, died at age 23 after privately battling leukemia.

About Jaehyun: Born April 7, 2002, Jaehyun debuted with Fable in June 2020 under Haeirum Entertainment as the group’s youngest member. The five-member group released singles including “Burn It Up,” “Run Run Run” and “Cloud 9” before becoming inactive around mid-2023, when three members re-debuted as Enphaze while Jaehyun stepped back from public life. As per local media, Jaehyun died on June 29 after his private fight against leukemia.

The big picture: Leukemia is a form of cancer in which abnormal cells — typically white blood cells — build up in the bone marrow and blood. As a result, they crowd out healthy blood cells, making it harder for them to do their job and thus compromising the rest of the body. In South Korea, leukemia ranked as the 12th most common cancer in 2022, with 3,781 new cases and 2,191 deaths. Medical experts project adult cases will increase over 50% within the next decade despite declining birth rates, with symptoms including persistent infections, unusual fatigue and easy bruising in young people. More broadly, Asian Americans typically have lower cancer rates than non-Hispanic whites, but certain cancers show disparities — including nearly double the liver cancer incidence among Asian/Pacific Islander populations.