Japan will be a good example for South Korea to consider when looking at lowering the suicide rate; measures included focusing on debtors and patients suffering from depression, and increasing the budget toward anti-suicide efforts

2013-08-21 17:15

Student suicides

It’s well known that South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Sadly, the number of children who commit suicide is believed to be no less dire than those by adults.
A report released Tuesday by Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party showed that 139 primary and secondary school students killed themselves last year. The figure was the lowest in three years, but still worryingly hovers above 100. In 2009, 202 students took their own lives, and the number fell to 146 in 2010 and 150 in 2011.
Of the 139 students who committed suicide last year, 88 were high school students, 48 were middle school students and three were in elementary school.
While financial woes were the biggest reason behind many of the suicides in the overall suicide statistics, about 40 percent, or 56 of the 139 students, were motivated by family-related problems. According to the report, 16 percent were triggered by depression and 11.5 percent by exam-related stress.Particularly eye-catching is that just three high school students killed themselves in 2011 owing to problems associated with the opposite sex, but the figure nearly quintupled to 14 ― 11 from high school and three from middle school ― last year. Contrary to general perceptions, suicides caused by school violence were lower, remaining at only two.
Most notable is that many of those students were not reported to be acting differently before committing suicide, but acted normally. This means that any student could choose to commit suicide at a momentary impulse.
While the suicide problem among youngsters is serious enough, there have been few measures at the national level to prevent them from choosing to end their lives. Given that a society is hopeless if it neglects to stem suicide, the time is long overdue for the central and local governments, as well as schools, to act decisively.
The first step in tackling the high suicide rate of students will be to listen to the students themselves. That’s because suicide is caused in large part by structural problems inherent in society.
Japan will be a good example for South Korea to consider when looking at lowering the suicide rate. Last year, the neighboring country succeeded in keeping the number of people who killed themselves below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years, thanks to its comprehensive package of measures. The measures included focusing on debtors and patients suffering from depression, and increasing the budget toward anti-suicide efforts.