Korea’s failure on suicide prevention shows national duty at stake

Song In-han
 
The author is a professor of social welfare at Yonsei University and the chair of the Reset Korea Inequality Reduction Subcommittee.
 
 
 
President Lee Jae Myung’s recent remarks that “suicide is a social disaster” marked an important recognition of the scale of the problem. Suicide prevention cannot be left to a single ministry or professional group. It requires coordinated action across health, welfare, psychology, education, employment, housing and law. Without the clear will of top leadership, comprehensive solutions that cut across these sectors cannot be achieved.
 

A high fence intended to stop suicides is seen installed on Mapo Bridge in Seoul on Feb. 27. [YONHAP]

 
In the past two decades, Korea has launched five national suicide prevention plans. None met their goals. The first plan aimed to lower the suicide rate to 18 deaths per 100,000 people by 2010, but the actual rate reached 31.2. The second plan set a target of 20 by 2013, but the rate was 28.5. The third plan’s goal for 2020 was again 20, yet the outcome was 25.7. The National Action Plan, which promised more concrete measures, set a target of 17 by 2022, but the figure was 25.2. Even when the fifth plan began in 2023, the rate climbed further to 27.3, the highest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
 
The policy design itself was not the flaw. I recall presenting Korea’s suicide prevention policies at an OECD meeting in London in 2018. Foreign experts praised Korea’s framework and wanted to borrow its details. Yet I knew that much of it was only complete on paper. The past two decades have shown how impressive documents collapse when not backed by execution.
 
Two problems explain the repeated failure. First, the targets were set unscientifically. Authorities set numerical goals without careful analysis of causes, realities and shifting contexts, reducing strategy to wishful thinking. Second, implementation was weak. Budgets, personnel, infrastructure and data sharing were insufficient. Governments limited themselves to campaigns and counseling programs while neglecting structural risk factors that drive suicide. Unrealistic goals and feeble execution became the pattern.
 
 
Short-term and piecemeal measures worsened the problem. One example was the previous government’s announced increase in mental health spending. Officials spoke of 300 billion won ($216 million) in new funding and claimed a rise of about 75 billion won. Without long-term strategies, however, temporary increases threatened credibility and sustainability. Critics noted the absence of detailed execution plans. Expanding budgets without investing in infrastructure or training staff made real impact impossible. Some even accused politicians of using tragedies for political advantage.
 
Suicide prevention cannot be judged by quick results. Building a safety net requires coordination from the central government down to communities, steady investment in infrastructure and the training of professionals over years. In 2022, I recommended that the government integrate the management of indicators directly tied to suicide — employment insecurity, housing vulnerability, mental health. The response was that such matters fell “beyond the scope of one ministry.” That answer revealed the central problem. Suicide prevention is not the task of a single agency. Without interministerial coordination and governmental commitment, it cannot succeed.
 

A SOS Life Line phone box is seen at Mapo Bridge in Seoul on Feb. 24. Suicides among Koreans has been increasing in recent years. [NEWS1]

 
Suicide is not explained by individual psychology alone. Economic, social and cultural contexts must also be considered. Korea shows warning signs on multiple indicators: the lowest level of social support among OECD members, the highest rate of elderly poverty and one of the highest household debt ratios. These structural pressures combine with excessive competition across education and labor and a weak social safety net.
 
Ensuring the right to life and happiness is a constitutional duty of the state. Policies must move beyond numerical targets and temporary campaigns. They must confront deeper risk factors in society and secure long-term solutions. That requires acknowledging suicide prevention as a national responsibility rather than a limited program. Only with consistent leadership, adequate funding and broad institutional support can Korea hope to shed its status as the OECD country with the highest suicide rate.
 
If you or someone you know is feeling emotionally distressed or struggling with thoughts of suicide, contact LifeLine Korea at 1588-9191 or the Crisis Counseling Center at 1577-0199. The Seoul Global Center offers English counseling: Contact 02-2075-4180 (+1) to arrange a session. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.  

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.