IIRC, this myth stems from a successful govt propaganda campaign that aimed to reduce power usage at night and put an end to rolling blackouts.

The Wikipedia article cites that as being yet another myth, although it is disproven by evidence of belief in fan death long before the blackouts.

The wiki page links to the EPA which does advise against fans in a closed room when it is over 90F:

Don't Use a portable electric fan in a closed room without windows or doors open to the outside. ... Don't Use a portable electric fan to blow extremely hot air on yourself. This can accelerate the risk of heat exhaustion. ... Don't direct the flow of portable electric fans toward yourself when room temperature is hotter than 90 °F."

That one's interesting in part because South Korea mostly doesn't get that hot. (Summer highs seem to be mid-80s Fahrenheit.)

Looking at climate data for the country, I was struck by how similar it is to upper Missouri. Saint Louis is about as humid, but a bit hotter on average. Which would make me suspect that if "fan death" was a thing, we'd be seeing it in a band of US States that're similarly hot and humid.

Speculative difference would be if air conditioning is really uncommon in South Korea, but presumably we could even that out by comparing to poorer people in the US.

I'm sure the comment was sarcastic.

Haha I deserve the downvotes, it’s okay. I was being dumb because I thought it was funny.

It's a shame, I realised you were joking and I liked it. I think the idiomatic HN way to indicate this unambiguously but subtly is ending with "/s" for "sarcasm"

HN doesn't appreciate funny.

It is funny :)

I grew up believing in it (because my parents), and it took me a while to shake. At some point it became more of a superstition, but was still nervous to leave it on overnight...

Better downvote, just to make sure. --Hackernews

If you'd like a place with endless jokes and memes cluttering up conversation I hear reddit is fantastic for that.

How would you know what a joke looks like?

I have worked night shift for 30 years. I sleep with a box fan in my bedroom with the door shut to filter out noise. Works really well.

The Japanese version of that Wikipedia article has the Japanese phrase for "Urban legend" in the title, unlike the English version. The literal translation of that title would be "Urban legend of electric fan".