Prevention of suicide

National efforts needed to take off shameful label

Korea is a land of suicides. As of 2010, 33.5 Koreans out of 100,000 took their own lives, the most among 34 OECD member nations for eight straight years and 2.6 times the average suicide rate of that organization. On average, 42.6 people killed themselves every day.

The reasons why so many Koreans choose to end their lives are as diverse as those they find to continue living. Yet the biggest cause of suicide is financial worry, or, more precisely, people experiencing a relative sense of deprivation. Nothing illustrates this better than the surge in the suicide rate after the 1997-98 financial crisis, which drove numerous wage earners out of jobs ― for good in most cases ― and began to severely widen the income gap among Koreans.

That Korea’s share of public spending out of its gross domestic product is lowest in the club of rich, industrial countries suggests much. The loose social safety net also explains why the suicide rate among senior citizens here is by far the world’s highest. Another reason is extreme competition. The foremost cause of death among teenagers is suicide, mostly resulting from poor school records and heavy peer group pressure.

As French sociologist Emile Durkheim noted, however, suicides are not problems of individuals but reflect the level and type of a country’s social unity and integration. Korea’s suicide rate was not high in the 1960s and’70s when the country was considerably worse off than now but there was a sense of community, and common goals, among the people.

The current situation poses a great challenge for President-elect Park Geun-hye, whose key election pledge was to work toward a “happy nation” and “grand unity.” In short, Park will have to reduce the suicide rate back to the level when her father was president, but by resolving the accumulation of problems that resulted from his unbalanced pattern of economic growth.

One of the first things she should do upon taking office will be to set up a government agency to reduce suicide. The incoming President must learn from the failure of a five-year suicide-prevention plan in 2004, which tackled the issue as a problem facing individuals, not one caused by social and economic challenges.

Park should start with knitting together a stronger social safety net especially for the marginalized and hopeless. The government should also take far better care of the 3.7 million people with mental health problems. To prevent copycat suicides, the so-called psychological autopsy ― a way profiling the thinking of people who commit suicide to trace the reasons that drove them toward their fatal decision and build a database to prevent similar attempts ― needs to be expanded to a national level.

Mass media for their part have to be more cautious in the way suicides are reported, especially those of celebrities as shown by the latest case involving a former baseball star. Research has found that the suicide of one celebrity results in up to 600 copycat acts, mainly abetted by sensational coverage by media outlets.

To lower the suicide rate, Korea should become a more compassionate and caring society even at the expense of slower-growing economy. Koreans will be watching whether and how Park will turn her promises into reality. <The Korea Times>