South Korean Exchange Student Falls to Her Death After Trying Jump Pose on a Cliff

Hyewon Kim traveled alone to Seven Sisters, a series of chalk cliffs by the English Channel, within the Seven Sisters Country Park, on the day of the accident. As said on the inquest, she asked someone in the area to take a picture of her.

After doing a jump pose, Kim reportedly lost her footing and fell 200 feet (60 meters) to her death from the edge of the cliff, according to BBC. Her case was recently reviewed by a court.

Eastbourne senior coroner Alan Craze recorded the death as a misadventure.

Signs have already been posted in the area warning people about the instability of the Seven Sisters cliff. However, these signs were all in English and some foreigners may not be able to read it.

“What we would say is to urge people to stay well away from cliff edges. The day before this incident we had a very severe rock fall in the same sort of area, so it’s clear some of these cliff edges can be very unstable,” Craze said.

This is why an option to add more signs in foreign languages was suggested and considered by Seaford Town Council in July 2017. Unfortunately, the suggestion was later rejected.

“We’ve decided to keep the signs as they are; we felt more would just confuse matters. Instead we’ve tackled this at source. We’ve been approaching coach companies and tour operators who run trips to the area and take people up on the cliffs to discuss having plans in place to warn people,” said Craig Williams, from the town council, noting that the decision was unanimous.