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By Bahk Eun-ji
Recently released data shows that Korea's overall suicide rate is on the decline, but it still remained the top cause of death among people in their 20s.
According to data in a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Suicide Prevention Center released earlier this month, 12,463 people committed suicide in 2017, down 4.8 percent from 13,092 in 2016.
The report said the decline is notable, considering the figure reached 15,906 in 2011, the highest since the government began collecting data in 1987.
Suicide rate (the number of deaths per 100,000 people) was 24.3 overall, but has been decreasing since 2013.
Since 2005, Korea had ranked first among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member states' suicide rates, but this time it ranked second after Lithuania.
Reasons for committing suicide were different according to age groups ― mental problems for people from the ages of 10 to 30 and 51 to 60, financial difficulties for those between 31 and 50 years old, and physical problems for those over 60.
The rate for people in their 20s, however, has remained steady at 16.4. The report said suicide was the leading cause of death for the age group, accounting for 44.8 percent of all deaths in the group.
The suicide toll among young people aged between 10 to 24 years old stood at 7.6 which was the 11th-highest among the OECD members.
Female students suffer from depression more than male students, and accordingly think of trying to commit suicide 15 percent more than male counterparts at 9.4.
According to the report, 45 percent of people aged between 13 to 24 said they experience stress from work and school in 2018, although it was down from 2016's 46.2 percent.
Kang Mun-young, a 44-year-old office worker and a mother of a 16-year-old high schoolgirl in Seoul, said she had been having a hard time with her daughter recently.
"A few weeks ago, my daughter and I were just having a normal conversation at home, and she suddenly began to cry so badly. We soon realized she was having a lot of stress from her school life, a totally different experience that what she had in middle school," Kang said.
"My husband and I were so shocked after learning she had searched content related to suicide on the internet a number of times. She was so stressed at school that she believed everyone there looked down on her and would laugh at her, which is not true."
She said as a mother, she will definitely take care of her daughter, but she also hopes to get some help from her daughter's school or the education authorities. "As parents, mine and my husband's role is the most important, but we sometimes feel helpless because we don't know exactly what is going on at her school. I am so scared of losing her," Kang said.
Although Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been running a one-stop center for a "healthy mind" since 2013, there are no full-time psychiatrists at the center.
Kang Yoon-hyung, a research professor of Hallym University Medical School, said schools have to play a role as a platform to identify students with psychological problems as soon as possible and provide the opportunity for them to get help from experts.
"On top of that, educators have to teach students how to share their psychological problems actively with adults who can help them. Young people are more familiar with social media than face-to-face talk, so educators as well as parents should teach them how to communicate with others in terms of showing their thoughts and feelings," Kang said.
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