By Park Moo-jong
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The shocking suicide of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon two weeks ago left people dumbstruck, both supporters and opponents, as he had allegedly sexually harassed his official aide in his office, which was completely at odds with his reputation as a "recognized" feminist.
What makes the tragedy of the political leader, a potential presidential candidate of the ruling camp for the 2022 election, even worse, is the late Park's followers' unreasonable bullying of the victim on social media.
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Action (1834-1902), an English Catholic historian, politician and writer, made a famous remark in a letter to an Anglican bishop: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
One example of corrupt behavior is the ethical depravity as proven by the shameful cases of former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung now in jail and former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don now on trial. It is so sad to see the sudden self-destruction of leaders at the apex of their careers.
In the criminal justice system of a law-abiding democratic country, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
One of my favorite American drama series is "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (SVU) featuring dedicated New York City detectives who investigate sex crimes.
I wonder if we have such an elite squad to fight the ethically corrupt behavior, particularly in those who wield absolute power as superiors.
As for suicide, South Korea has the dishonorable title as a country with the highest suicide rate among the 34 OECD members. Furthermore, it is ranked fourth in the world (26.6 suicides per 100,000 in 2018) following Lithuania (31.9), Russia (31) and the South American country of Guyana (29.2), according to a World Health Organization report.
According to unofficial data, 42.6 South Koreans commit suicide every day, while more than 70 attempted suicide mainly due to economic difficulties, depression and various shameful scandals.
Actually, prominent figures and celebrities have killed themselves one after another since the end of 2017, including ex-professor and writer Ma Kwang-soo, leading progressive politician Roh Hoe-chan, former lawmaker Chung Doo-un, TV actors Jo Min-ki and Jeon Mi-seon and K-pop stars Sulli and Goo Hara, to name a few.
Our media coverage of suicides here has been, so far, irresponsible, even glorifying the extreme acts of suicide or making some of them heroes, recalling the words of U.S. writer Chuck Palahniuk: "The only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage."
In short, suicides like those of former President Roh Moo-hyun, Seoul Mayor Park and progressive politician Roh Hoe-chan should neither take place again, nor be glorified.
In particular, any suicide to cover up one's shame should never be glorified or commemorated at the national level. If a person does wrong, they are obliged to accept corresponsive punishment. The choice of suicide to avoid it is nothing but another attempt to avoid responsibility.
On the occasion of Park's tragedy, we have to put an end to the social trend of treating politicians who met their fate by their own irresponsible and selfish choice so leniently.
Nearly 800,000 people around the world take their own life and there are many more who attempt suicide every year. It is common sense that every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind.
Suicide is a violation of life. Suicide is absolutely wrong. Suicide is the very result of cowardice. Suicide is the sin, not "a sin." We should not refuse to take the oath of loyalty to life. Nothing is more precious than being loyal to our own life. We have to take a lesson from Park's misfortune.
Society has the responsibility to teach the growing generation what a bad choice it is to give up one's life and how badly it affects society.
In order to help prevent such future high-profile suicides, we have to get to the truth behind the claims of sexual harassment filed against him just hours before his death.
Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.
