Moon Bin, a member of boy band ASTRO as well as its splinter duo Moonbin&Sanha, has died his record label and management agency confirmed on Wednesday (April 19). He was 25. The cause of death is currently unknown.
Following local reports that the singer, songwriter, actor and model was found dead in his Seoul apartment by a manager who immediately called police, ASTRO’s agency Fantagio released a statement about his passing and funeral plans. Released in Korean, Fantagio shared that Moon Bin’s bandmates, label mates and company staff are mourning his death. The U.S.-headquartered Helix Publicity, who represented Moonbin&Sanha since late 2022, also shared a statement on social media. “We are absolutely heartbroken. Sending our thoughts, prayers, and deepest condolences to Moon Bin’s family, friends, loved ones, and to AROHA [fans] who always cheered for him and supported him.”
Fantagio added that Moon’s family wishes for a quiet funeral with family, friends and company colleagues. Moon Bin’s younger sister, Moon Sua, is also in the K-pop industry, and is the eldest member in girl group Billlie.
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In December 2022, Moon Bin renewed his contract with Fantagio alongside four other ASTRO members. In January, Moon released Incense, his third EP under the duo group Moonbin&Sanha alongside his ASTRO bandmate Yoon San-ha. Moonbin&Sanha were in the midst of their Diffusion Fan Con Tour that began in Seoul in February, and was set to visit different cities around Asia through May. The duo had also just launched an official fan community page on April 16 on Weverse, the global fandom platform developed by HYBE.
As a member of ASTRO, Moon Bin charted seven albums on Billboard‘s World Albums chart, peaking at No. 5 with 2017’s Dream Part.02, plus seven songs on World Digital Song Sales, reaching as high as No. 6 with 2019 single “All Night.”
See Fantagio’s statement via the official ASTRO staff Twitter account below:
Despite officially debuting into the K-pop industry with ASTRO in February 2016, Moon Bin has been a part of Korea’s entertainment scene since childhood.
Growing up in South Korea’s large, central city of Cheongju, Moon Bin worked as a child model and appeared in the 2006 “Balloons” music video for K-pop group TVXQ! portraying the “mini” version of member U-Know. His work expanded into acting in 2009 when he was cast in the popular Korean drama Boys Over Flowers playing the younger version of So Yijung, a career-defining performance for Korean actor Kim Sangbum. Moon Bin had begun training with Fantagio in elementary school, joined as a full-time trainee in middle school, and attended and graduated from Hanlim Multi Art School in Seoul, focusing on practical music.
As a member of ASTRO, Moon Bin’s role in the boy band was a main dancer while also contributing as a lead vocalist for the group that Billboard eyed as one of the best new K-pop acts to debut in 2016. A year later, he earned his first credit on an ASTRO track as a songwriter on the fan-dedicated cut “You & Me (Thank AROHA),” with its title referencing ASTRO’s dedicated fanbase, AROHA.
Moon continued growing his credits, including co-writing the group’s 2020 single “One & Only,” as well as his solo track “Let’s Go Ride,” which appeared on ASTRO’s most recent full-length album Drive to the Starry Road from 2022. Moon Bin had other opportunities to shine solo, like on the snappy and sleek R&B track “Desire” from Moonbin&Sanha’s most recent EP Incense from January, plus the breezy duet “Language” with his Fantagio label mate Ji Suyeon of girl Weki Meki.
Elsewhere in his career, Moon Bin easily expanded into acting gigs (which included joining the casts of several K-dramas and even the Korean version of Saturday Night Live), as well as modeling (he was the first muse for Korean fashion brand NEIKIDNIS) and hosting (he was an MC on the weekly live K-pop performance program Show Champion from 2020-2022).
Beyond work, Moon Bin was known for a shining, bright smile that some compared to that of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. His attitude in interviews was always one of looking ahead to the future.
In a track-by-track review with Billboard going through ASTRO’s 2020 Gateway EP, Moon Bin spoke excitedly about the prospect of performing the group’s new songs for fans eventually once the pandemic subsided. Just last month, Moon Bin and his band mate San-ha hinted at future solo projects from both of them during an interview with ABS-CBN News in the Philippines when the duo visited Manila for their Diffusion tour. “Fans can be excited for future plans where we may also debut as solo performers,” San-ha had said. Moon Bin told the outlet, “We are very thankful that we were able to reach a point that we have a world tour, and at the moment, we are focusing on the designated roles that we are doing right now. And we are excited on what is in store in the future.”