Koreans killing themselves

Top suicide rate in OECD is self-portrait of gloomy society

Korea's suicide rate increased in 2018 for the first time in five years. Since 2005, the nation's suicide rate has been the highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development except for 2017. There may be many reasons for suicides, but our society is undoubtedly going in the wrong direction.

According to Statistics Korea, 13,670 Koreans took their own lives last year, an average of 37.5 suicides a day. The suicide rate per 100,000 people stood at 26.6, making it the second leading cause of death following cancer. The Ministry of Health and Welfare attributed the rebounding suicide rate to "Werther effect" ― emulation suicides after a widely publicized one as in Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther." That may be true in part, but the current situation would not have come without the existence of a large pool of people with the potential to kill themselves. At stake is how to change a social structure that drives its members to suicide.

Reasons for suicide differ by age. Teenagers take their lives primarily because of school grades and the pressure to enter a good schools; people in their 20s to 50s killed themselves for economic reasons; and those over 60 do so while suffering from illnesses. Teenagers are thrown into the world's fiercest exam competition without being allowed to take a break, while workers are suffering from the world's worst regarding job security and the income gap. The correlation between income level and the suicide rate is also very high. Korea is also showing the world's fastest population aging and the highest poverty rate for the elderly.

All these are figures that back up the glaringly high suicide rate. According to a health and welfare ministry's survey, Koreans' permissive attitude toward suicide has been rising, too. That also should be seen as reflecting the rupture of relationships and the emergence of a "no hope" society. Any countermeasures will prove to be little more than symptomatic remedies, without drastically rectifying our unlimited competition, winner-takes-all social structure and loose social safety net. The latest statistics should serve as an occasion for policymakers to reflect on how serious they should view the current situation and what practical steps they need to resolve it.