Talk show star found dead in hotel 'joint suicide'

A SOUTH Korean TV personality known as the "happiness preacher" was found dead with her husband in a hotel room in an apparent joint suicide, police said.

A hotel employee found 63-year-old Choi Yoon-hee lying on the bed and her 72-year-old husband hanging in the bathroom late on Thursday, police official Yoon Hee-seok said. Ms Choi wrote more than 50 books about finding happiness and hope. She earned her nickname after becoming popular through TV talk shows.

Choi's neck showed signs of having been choked, but police do not suspect foul play because of a suicide note at the scene, Mr Yoon said.

The note said Choi had been battling lung and heart disease for two years and was suffering severe pain.

"I was exhausted from repeated trips to the hospital but I still tried to be thankful and hopeful," the note said according to Yoon. "I could no longer stand the pain and my husband couldn't let me go alone. We decided to leave together."

Her husband had so far been identified only by his surname of Kim, Mr Yoon said.