By Yi Whan-woo
Seoul City will operate a special rescue system on two of the 25 Han River bridges on a trial basis to prevent people from committing suicide by jumping off them.
The municipal government said Thursday the system will be implemented on Mapo and Seogang Bridge until March. The city officials will monitor footage taken by surveillance cameras installed at the two sites.
It plans to dispatch a team of psychological counselors and water rescue workers with the aim of arriving within three minutes of detecting someone trying to jump from a bridge.
The measure comes because more people have attempted suicide at the 25 bridges managed by the city government.
The nation has the highest suicide rate in the world.
A total of 196 suicide attempts were reported in 2012, a 243.9 percent rise from 2003 when there were 57.
Last year there were 171 actual or attempted suicides at Mapo Bridge, which connects the financial and political district of Yeouido to Mapo.
The Hangang Grand Bridge between Yongsan and Dongjak saw the next highest total at 138, followed by Wonhyo Bridge with 97, and Seogang Bridge with 81.
The rescue rate at each of the four sites accounted for less than 50 percent in the same time period with 42 percent for Wonhyo Bridge, 35 percent for both Mapo and Hangang Grand Bridge, and 30 percent for Seogang Bridge.
The city said it has invested 250 million won ($235,000) to set up the trial rescue system on the two bridges.
It will increase the number of water rescue workers to serve at these areas,.
The country has a notoriously high suicide rate. In 2010, 33.5 people out of every 100,000 took their own lives. It was 2.6 times higher than the average for member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to government data.