Overview
- South Korea’s Korea Organ and Tissue Donation Agency confirmed her death and said she donated her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys at National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, saving five patients.
- The agency did not disclose the cause or exact date of death.
- Baek’s 2018 memoir I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, drawn from her psychiatric sessions during treatment for dysthymia, sold over a million copies and was translated in about 25 countries.
- Her sister, Baek Da-hee, issued a remembrance, and English translator Anton Hur and publisher Bloomsbury shared tributes highlighting her impact on readers.
- The memoir was initially self-published via crowdfunding before being acquired by a mainstream publisher, and a sequel appeared in 2019 with an English translation released in 2024.