By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Three elderly women threw themselves to their deaths in the southern city of Daegu earlier this week. At 1:30 a.m. Thursday, a janitor at an apartment complex found the body of a Shin, 86, who resided on the eighth floor. Two other seniors were found after jumping from their apartments a day earlier.

All three of them had dementia and were despondent about the disease, which is considered the reason for their actions.

Research by the Police Science Institute (PSI) has revealed a soaring suicide rate among senior citizens in Korea. The increase in the number of people over 61 years old who kill themselves has gone up more than five-fold, from 788 in 1989 to 4,029 in 2008.

According to Seoul Survey, the average suicide rate was 49 out of 100,000 in 2008, double the 23 in 2000. Those taking their own life marked seventh in the list of causes of death.

The biggest reason for elderly suicides was illness, followed by financial difficulties, loneliness and family troubles.

"The younger generation commits suicide more impulsively, but the aged do so after much deliberation, so they have a higher possibility of going through with the act," Yoo Ji-woong of the PSI said.

Local senior suicide prevention centers are surging with elderly people seeking counseling for their suicidal urges. "From 30 to as many as 400 seniors visit counselors to talk about this. There are many aged people who feel suicidal even if they don't have any big problems in their private life," Yoo said.

"Elderly people think of their present problems as larger and more serious as they have less hope of getting better as time goes by, compared to the younger generation," an official of the Seoul Metropolitan Mental Health Center said.

The center said it was important to counsel seniors with suicidal thoughts as early as possible.

"We go out and survey elderly people at local senior centers or churches twice a year to try and find those who are suicidal," the official said.

"We make calls, visit them often and offer psychotherapy for those who are on our watch list. It is important for them to feel someone is caring for them and can prevent the worst from happening."

Jang Young-sik of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs said the reasons for the rise in the number of suicides include increasing stress, financial hardship, copycat suicides following celebrities who kill themselves and psychiatric problems. "The government should step up to prevent senior suicides as social factors affect them in many ways."

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr