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``To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill." ― Aristotle
On April 7, another Korean life was lost to the silent epidemic that has been eating away at Korean society with increasing ferocity for more than 10 years now.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, more than 10,000 people commit suicide a year now (the 2008 number was 12,858) which averages out to some 35 people taking their own lives a day. This places South Korea in the top position among OECD countries, according to OECD health data ― with a rate that is nearly double the OECD average.
But this isn't what people are talking about. Instead, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) fills the headlines with its president (for now), Suh Nam-pyo, facing excoriation for his policies, including the decision to charge tuition to those students who did not maintain a 3.0 grade average, and the implementation of English-only classes. Suh is to blame for the loss of three 19-year-olds and a 25-year old.
Yet, I wonder when the discussion will turn to the reality ―these were four lives out of thousands a year. Thousands. Sure, KAIST provides an easy target to divert the attention from the larger issue: it's hyper-competitive (reports say students there ranked in the top 1 percent on the national CSAT) and tuition can be fairly steep at a maximum of 7.5 million won a semester. Nonetheless, only 14 KAIST students have committed suicide since 2000. Fourteen. Perhaps someone should put things into context.
During classes at my hyper-competitive high school on Friday, we discussed the news and what it meant. In each class I asked, ``Why doesn't anyone talk about the bigger problem?" And I allowed my students to ponder. ``It's too big of a problem," said one boy. ``It's embarrassing for Korea," added a girl. ``We've gotten used to it," said another student. Many students expressed similar feelings.
By and large the discussion ― one that should be occurring in government offices, academic institutions and around dinner tables across the peninsula ― led us to a list of things that must change:
1. Education about mental illness must improve. Currently, one is either normal or mentally ``ill" (and therefore no longer accepted by society). Teaching that depression does not make someone a nutcase is essential.
2. The mental health infrastructure here has to improve ― reports show that care is extremely expensive and often not effective. Moreover, all schools need a guidance counselor's office starting with high schools and colleges.
3. The social mores that say the norm is beating other people in cutthroat academic competition; always being number one and never failing at anything have to be adjusted. When people think they have no second chance, suicide becomes acceptable.
4. The excessive hours spent cramming for tests and, later, working for a company must be reduced. The fact that Korean students rank near the bottom in student satisfaction and that Korea has the highest work stress and lowest job satisfaction level in the OECD should make this clear.
As a great nation, Korea cannot continue to watch this epidemic consume lives that shouldn't be lost. From former President Roh Moo-hyun and actress Choi Jin-Shil to Lee Yoon-hyung, the daughter of Samsung's CEO Lee Kun-hee, the country has seen people who seem to have it all choose to end their own lives.
But it's the many thousands of names we've never heard, the countless families and friends who've had a piece of their lives robbed from them, and the society as a whole that people should consider when we hear about these four tragic and unnecessary deaths at KAIST.
The time has come to start doing something to prevent the person who is somewhere right now thinking that suicide is the only solution to escape, that snuffing out their own life is the only option.
The writer is an English teacher at Daewon Foreign Language High School. He can be reached at jmrseoul@hotmail.com.
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