New law to ban online suicide tips
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By Lee Suh-yoon
People who share suicide tips or seek to make suicide pacts online can now face a prison sentence, according to a new suicide prevention law, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday.
The revised law, passed in the National Assembly at the end of last year, targets a growing online trend to share suicide methods that are accessible within a few clicks.
Such online postings discuss the various merits of different ways to die and sometimes coordinate offline meetings so people can commit suicide together.
Once the revision takes effect in June, internet users who form suicide pacts with others or share information that could “incite or assist suicide” with detailed methods or images can be sentenced to up to two years in jail or fines up to 20 million won ($18,000).
The regulation also allows emergency outreach centers to acquire the personal data ― including phone numbers and locations ― of internet users who show warning signs of suicide, through cooperation with telecommunication companies.
On Dec. 27, the ministry opened a 24-hour counseling hotline (1393), and plans to broadcast suicide prevention public service announcements on major TV channels in the coming months.
A two-week monitoring by the National Police Agency and the health ministry last June found more than 8,000 cases of suicide-related content online. Many depicted images of self-harm, an increasingly common behavior among teenagers that may lead to suicide attempts.
The country's suicide rate doubled in the years following the Asian Financial Crisis (1997-99) and has remained high since. More than 12,400 people committed suicide in the country last year, according to Statistics Korea.
Korea has one of the highest suicide rates among the 36 OECD member nations. Although it recorded a slightly lower figure of 23 suicides per 100,000 people in 2017, it is still well above the OECD average of around 11 per 10,000, and second only to Lithuania.
A 2018 report by Statistics Korea showed 5.1 percent of Koreans have contemplated suicide.
The reasons for suicide, the fifth-leading cause of death here, vary among age groups.
Financial hardship in a competitive society is the leading cause of suicidal thoughts among people in their 20s to 50s.
In the case of teens, academic pressure was the main stress factor behind suicidal impulses, while people in their 60s or over cited physical illness as the main cause.