Ancillary 9: High suicide rate in South Korea

The issue that I will be writing about for WP4 is the high rate of suicide in South Korea and I am specifically interested in the high suicide rates in South Korea related to teenage students. South Korea, for many years consecutively, has been ranked first among OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in suicide rate per 100,000 people. Many South Korean students are extremely stressed about the academic workload they are enforced in order to go on to the so what called ‘in-Seoul universities. In fact, suicide is the number one cause of Korean teens’ death. Currently, the Korea Suicide Prevention Association is putting efforts to decrease the suicide rate and prevent suicide, but the effect seems mere. Thus, I want to investigate if there will be a more fundamental solution to this problem, not only academics but also other issues other than academics are making young Korean’s life so difficult to force them to suicide. Specific topics or issues that I will be researching are mental health-related to stress, suicide prevention laws, and other suicide prevalence methods in South Korea. Furthermore, one debate around the issue is a blind spot for welfare, in which people who are in desperate need of welfare receive no benefits because of their circumstance that is out of the legal ‘welfare zone’. This debate contributes to suicide from economic stress, which is another frequent reason for suicide in South Korea. Statistically, economic problems (including tuition) topped the ranking list with 57% as the cause of suicidal thoughts and attempts. Considering mental health, it is known that about 50% to 80% of suicides have psychiatric diseases such as depression and mental instability.