Candidates disregarding suicide problem

By Kim Tong-hyung

Korea is the worldwide leader in suicides ― the “land of the mourning calm.” And neither Park Geun-hye nor Moon Jae-in seems interested in doing something about it even as they zealously sell themselves as the country’s next president.

The paucity of plans is rather strange when considering that the mind-boggling number of Koreans taking their own lives has emerged as a powerful talking point in politics.

Just last week, Jin Sung-joon, the snarky lawmaker of Moon’s Democratic United Party (DUP), talked up the James Gilligan book, ``Why Some Politicians are More Dangerous than Others,’’ which is based on the premise that suicides and homicides tend to rise during Republican presidencies in the U.S.

Jin’s lazy conclusion was that Koreans will probably continue to leap off roofs at an alarming pace if the conservatives are allowed to retain the country’s most powerful office. Campaign officials of Park, the candidate of the right-leaning ruling Saenuri Party, were livid.

Perhaps, Jin’s cheap attempt at provocation might have carried more weight if Moon had been providing credible plans to slow the tragic march of death. Moon and his conservative rival are both guilty of broad-brushing the suicide problem and disregarding its severity.

Suicides will magically disappear when inequality is effectively combated, they seem to suggest. Both claim they can effectively combat inequality without hurting growth because they have a secret formula for allowing Koreans to have it both ways ― showering them with welfare benefits, but exempting them from taxes. And yes, denial is a river in Egypt.

``No, the candidates aren’t interested at all and they aren’t talking intelligently about the issue at all. The DUP news conference was hogwash; suicides in Korea first sparked during the Kim Dae-jung government and continued to rise in the Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak administrations. (Jin) got the facts wrong; it’s not simply a liberal or conservative government thing here,’’ said Park Jong-hi, a physician from the Kangwon National University Hospital and director of the Korea Suicide Prevention Center.

``Suicides are a complicated problem that require a comprehensive approach from vertically and horizontally across all government organizations. You can’t afford to approach this superficially, but their lack of specific plans prove that the presidential candidates are doing just that.’’

To get across how dysfunctional this society has become, look no further than official figures that show suicides are on the verge to overtake cancer as the biggest killer of Koreans.

Korea’s overall suicide rate of 31.2 per 100,000 people was nearly triple the 11.3 average of nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Suicides are already the leading cause of death for Koreans in their teens, and 20s and 30s as young people continue to bear the brunt of the downturn. The country also tops all OECD nations in the suicide rate of the over-60s by a comfortable margin, which probably has something to do with its untouchable leadership in poverty among elderly citizens.

It’s safe to assume that the explanation for the rise in suicides would be mainly economic. The country is winding down its 15

th

year of economic ugliness, as the erosion of living standards since the late-1990s foreign currency crisis has accelerated under the recent governments of Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak, which consistently put growth before household finances.

It’s hard to argue against presidential challengers Park and Moon when they say improving working-class living conditions, narrowing the massive gap between the rich and poor, and restoring a sense of mobility would help pull down the totals. But this is no different than beauty pageant contestants speechifying about world peace.

Korea has been failing miserably in its efforts to boost incomes more broadly as its economy continues to lose the ability to create jobs and inspire entrepreneurship. With worsening global conditions denting its strength in exports, there is no reason to think that things will get better on that front.

Meanwhile, a Korean man or woman will leap to their death every 34 minutes, an estimate from Statistics Korea, the country’s official statistics agency.

While Korea’s suicide problem is complex, the country lacks even the simplest measures to tackle them.

It often seems that Korean awareness and approach to mental health is stuck in the 19

century. Only one out of three Koreans suffering from depression is consistently receiving professional help.

Apart from very large firms like Samsung, it’s hard to find companies that have psychological therapists on their payroll or provide employees access to any sort of counseling program. Even when an employee does commit suicide, it’s hard to find employees providing his or her co-workers professional counseling and some time off to help them confront the horrible occurrence.

Public organizations aren’t doing a good job in setting an example either. The Ministry of Justice recently offered to finance part of employees’ medical expenses when they are in need of psychological treatment. However, employees are reluctant to use the program when their anonymity isn’t fully protected and the medical records will probably be reflected in their job performance reviews.

``The biggest problem is that most Koreans still are embarrassed about getting professional help for mental problems,’’ grumbled one government employee.

``People will point to a person who committed suicide and say he killed himself because he was weak.’’

Park, the doctor, laments that the government has been disinterested in funding even the basic research on exactly why so many Koreans are committing suicide. As Tolstoy might have observed, every dysfunctional company is screwed in their own way and it would be meaningless to take the suicide causes from, say Sweden, and produce guesswork on the Korean deaths.

Park has been frequently involved in public hearings and government workshops for setting the country’s strategies against the suicide phenomenon. He continues to be disappointed.

His suggestion to the next resident of Cheong Wa Dae is to create a presidential committee devoted to tackling the suicide problem.

``We need a pan-governmental approach. We need to have an organization that can work with a real budget and act as a control tower that puts a sense of purpose into the incoherent efforts pushed separately by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Justice,’’ he said.

``The health ministry never has enough money, autonomy and power. If you try to do anything different, such as establish a system for psychological autopsy, you collide with the existing regulations and powers held by the police, and the policies of the education ministry.

``Then there is the lack of guidelines accepted between the government and media outlets on the reporting of these suicide cases. We need a body that can be above everything else and actually make things happen. A presidential body seems to be the reasonable model.’’

A presidential body, a new ministry, a larger mental health budget, a new religion or whatever it takes. The government just can’t manage to reduce its role as a body counter.