SINGAPORE — First, vomit came out of her nose and mouth when she put her head down to rest after downing multiple shots of hard liquor in a drinking game — a game that saw about seven litres of Martell Cordon Bleu consumed in all.

A short while later, South Korean Kim Seoa’s lips turned purple and she stopped breathing. The operations manager at the Prestige KTV moved to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the 27-year-old and she was taken to Singapore General Hospital, but she died the next day from acute ethanol intoxication.

Details leading up to Ms Kim’s death were revealed during a hearing at Coroner’s Court today (Nov 6), which was also attended by embassy officials. Ms Kim had arrived in Singapore on April 12 on a Social Visit Pass. Her friends said she was here on a holiday, while her sister said she was also looking for modelling career opportunities in Singapore.

The court heard that on May 11, 
Ms Kim attended Mr Henry Low’s birthday party at room 388 in Prestige KTV with her friends. After midnight, following the cake-cutting, a friend of Mr Low’s, Mr Billy Kon, suggested a drinking game to “make things more exciting”. Mr Kon offered to pay any woman S$50 for each shot of alcohol they drank, heard the court. He had been carrying about S$7,000 in cash that night, mostly in denominations of S$50.

Based on the accounts of the KTV’s server and bar manager that night, the rate of alcohol consumption increased drastically during the game. Ms Kim was seen pouring five to six shot glasses of alcohol into her brandy glass before drinking it. She would then drink some plain water, followed by green tea. This was repeated twice, noted the witnesses.

As the drinking game continued, Ms Kim appeared to have fallen asleep on the sofa she was seated on, with her head and body tilted to one side. According to the witnesses’ accounts, staff and guests assumed that she was drunk, as this was a “relatively common sight in such an environment”.

One of the servers also observed her returning an “okay” sign with her hand when a male guest asked if she was okay, after which she continued to rest on the sofa.

A toxicology report showed that Ms Kim’s blood ethanol level — 310 mg per 100ml — was almost four times higher than the legal limit.

The court heard that while her next-of-kin said she did not have health issues, her friends said the deceased had been taking supplements or medication for her liver. On her drinking habits, her friends also noted that Ms Kim did not usually drink and was known to have a low tolerance for alcohol.

The State Coroner will deliver his conclusion next Wednesday.