Bestselling Author Baek Se Hee Passes Away At 35, Saves Five Lives Even In Her Death
Author Baek Se Hee, who wrote the globally bestselling memoir, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, has passed away.
It is not clear how the author passed, who was just 35 years old at the time of passing. No other specific details about her death have been made public as of yet. However, on October 17, KST, the Korea Organ Donation Agency announced that Baek saved five lives through organ donation, giving her heart, lungs, liver, and both kidneys at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, where she was born.
Baek rose to global prominence with her bestselling essay collection, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, which was published in 2018. She followed it up with an equally successful sequel, I Want To Die But I Still Want To Eat Tteokbokki, in 2024. Both books, translated from Korean to English by South Korean writer and translator Anton Hur, offered candid reflections on her struggles with depression and real records of her therapy sessions with her psychiatrist. The book resonated with a global audience for its raw honesty and its contribution toward destigmatizing mental illness in South Korea.
Readers from all over the world have offered their heartfelt condolences to Baek Se Hee.
RIP, Baek Se Hee (author of I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki). 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/8IXctHqB8e
— Will Tea (@thewilltea) October 17, 2025
I just saw the news about baek se hee 🥺😔 rest in paradise, pls have lots of tteok on the other side🤍
— ri 🌤☔️ (@goyangifam) October 17, 2025
BAEK SE HEE NOOOO 😭😭😭
I bought her books and I always recommend it to people 😭😭😭
RIP queen, thanks for making me feel less lonely in my battle with my mental health 😔🫶🏻— bibble 🚂 (@drizzlynnx) October 17, 2025
