Thursday, June 01, 2006

The Latest on Hyuk Jin Choi

The Daily Northwestern:
The death of a Northwestern graduate student whose body was found in Lake Michigan near North Campus Friday has been ruled a suicide, said a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

The body of Hyuk Jin Choi was found floating facedown in the lake north of the soccer and hockey fields May 26 at about 11 a.m. Medical examiners pronounced Choi dead Friday at 1:40 p.m. They ruled the cause of death to be drowning.

The Student Affairs office has contacted Choi's family to make memorial plans, said Alan Cubbage, vice president of university relations. Northwestern would defer to the family's wishes before any plans are finalized, Cubbage said.

"When the death of a student occurs it's truly a sad occasion for the university," he said.

A man kayaking noticed Choi's body floating facedown in the lake, and he told bystanders who called 911 at about 11 a.m., officials with Evanston Fire Department told the DAILY last week. The EFD dive team recovered his body 50 to 100 yards off shore.

Choi was an NU chemistry graduate student from Dukyang Gu, South Korea. He had been a student since fall 2004.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you feel about your coworker's suicide? Will he make it to heaven or not?

Hal said...

He wasn't really my co-worker. He was in another lab. I'd never even met him. Still, how do I feel?

It's a sad situation. He left behind a wife (who is rumored to be pregnant, but I've no way to confirm that).

I'm still curious how they ruled it a suicide. But I'll probably never be able to find out.

Will he make it to heaven? I don't know. I know nothing about him. It really depends on what his faith in Jesus Christ was. I can say no more because I know no more.