Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Annual suicide figures have been rising, from 9,109 in 1997 to 12,468 in 1998, due to the foreign exchange crisis, and then to 11,713 in 1999, 11,794 in 2000, 12,277 in 2001 and 13,055 in 2002.

"Suicide from financial troubles is at a serious rate," Lee said. "This is murder of the society, and the government must hasten to put together a proper safety network."
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200309/200309010

[Len8]

Suicide seems to be the flavour of the month in Korea. Was watching a Korean TV drama a few nights ago, and it was a story of a mother who takes her daughters to an amusement park, leaves them there and then goes and throws herself off a cliff.

Geeze! What is it with Korean TV? Are they trying to get Korea recognized as the country with the most suicides. Stuff like that is pretty impressionable, and it could easily tip the balance in the lives of desperate individuals towards doing the same thing.

I guess there aren't enough social safety nets in Korea

[ulsanchris]

Len8 it also has to do with the shame factor. Its far more shameful in korea to loss your shirt than it is in the west.

[rapier]

Koreans will just have to get a life and a perspective...being poor is not the end of the world. I've met people with virtually nothing in countries like Laos, vietnam etc that were far happier and cooler people than 99% of Koreans I've met.
If you're all poor together, I suppose its easier than being in a poverty-stricken minority.

[canuckistan]

The government has some responsibility in this situation.
Credit card debt is at an all-time high due in part to the govenrment's offering of income tax credits for credit card use. They encouraged people to get and use credit cards in exchange for tax credits with the aim to make more everyday transactions traceable and lessen the tax-evasion involved in cash deals.
Little did they know people would go hog wild.
The sad part is that the amount of interest charged on 5 jacked-up credit cards kinda cancels out the tax-credit benefit.

[Skarp]

Suicide is an all too common cause of death in many countries. In Korea, not being able to meet the financial demands of your family committments has got to be very traumatic. Also - failing in education after all the sacrifices your family has made must be hard to bear.

Korea seems to be a hard place to live. Lots of anger, lots of domestic violence, lots of excessive drinking, too much pressure to succeed, not much emotional support. The Koreans I've met with any kind of emotional reaction just say they are 'too sensitive'. Men are supposed to behave like men.

Anyway - this is not a purely Korean phenomenon, but I think it's more acute at the moment.

Skarp

[Gladiator]

Writing about poverty and the worsening rich/poor divide in The Korea Times July 30th Park Moo-Jong describes the most horrific and harrowing story I've heard in a long time:

"The renowned critics remarks (about poverty) were proved quite persuasive by the brutal and shameless crime by a 30-something mother in despair who pushed her two daughters, aged three and seven, off the 14th floor of an apartment building and then jumped down to her death holding her five-year old son. The seven year old girl cried before being pushed off the building by her mother, according to an eyewitness, "I don't want to die. Let me live.".....The terrible case of the young mother who could not stand her absolute poverty with three kids was not a group suicide. It was an evident act of homicide that neither should nor could be justified or forgiven. The tragedy testifies to the absolute poverty aroud us and to what the state and society should do for the poor."

This isn't the first time I've heard of Koreans taking the lives of their children in suicide. I can't even begin to comprehend such actions, poverty or not.

[rapier]

Didn't she have access to some sort of social welfare provision/ support?

[Gladiator]

Not sure Rapier, who knows?

That kind of provision in this society I would imagine is very basic at best, onus still falls on other family members plus extended family to help out with financial difficulties.

Was she widowed? A single parent? Abusive husband? Only our speculation can fill in the gaps because only the bare bones of the tragedy were described within the larger framework of the piece.

One encouraging (surprising) sight I saw was an advertisment on a bus for "Mihon Pumo Sangdam" (counselling for single parents, if my translation's not wrong). Whether or not financial aid and support are included in that package I don't know but at least it shows prejudice replaced by compassion, humanity and understanding towards the women who are no doubt in the most vulnerable segment of Korean society.

[Len8]

Social work courses are pretty difficult to get into in most western countries, because they lead to good jobs. Social workers are well paid in the U.S. and the job in most Western countries carries quite a bit of prestige. Unfortunately in Korea it doesn't rate, and it's considered a low paying job, hence the lack of a good social safety net for the majority of the people. The rich minority of course always find ways to take care of their not so able sons and daughters.

The situation about the mother who threw her children out the window, and then jumped out herself was reported by the AP worldwide. I heard of it from a newspaper cutting sent to one of my co-workers by her father in New Zealand.

[Gwangjuboy]

Reminds me of the time that a Korean man attempted to take his own life because he suspected that he had contracted the HIV virus. He put his wife and children in the car under the pretext of "going on a trip." He drove at high speed into a river killing all but himself. Never did find out if his suspicions were proved correct.

[Medic]

Western movies, and the media make a point of not making programes and dramas involving suicides. It's standard procedure, because enough studies have been done to show the damaging effects of highlighting it too much. Seems to be a very sound agreement amongst all movie producing companies, and the television companies.

Korea needs to do the same thing

[peter07]

Hmm, it seems everytime there is a negative stat about Korea, the Korea bashers come out in full force without seeing the overall picture.

Scandinavia is the haven for suicide junkies. Finland and Hungary are two suicide powers, and the funny thing is, studies have shown that Finns and Hungarians who emigrate elsewhere are STILL more prone to suicide than others.

China and Japan seem ahead of suicides in Asia. And yes, I do agree that many people in Third World countries seem happier though they don't have jack.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/2935081.htm

[Len8]

peter07, any reason why the Finns and Hungarians are so prone to commiting suicide. What's in their genetic makeup that makes them this way or is it a conditioning passed on from generation to generation?

Noticed in the article that the Lithuanians have a high suicidal rate as well.

[Real Reality]

Why do so many people feel a need to commit suicide?
How often do people consider suicide? Some think about it but do not
make an attempt.

FIJI: Suicide Rate Amongst World's Highest
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault.php?urlpinaid=8633

The suicide rate in Russia has almost doubled since 1990, with nearly 57,500 Russians taking their own lives every year, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation. The WHO's report, by Professor Dmitry Veltischev, of the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, showed the suicide rate among Russians to be 39.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2001, the equivalent of 57,500 cases among Russia's 146 million-strong population.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,994381,00.html

According to the World Health Organization, every 40 seconds across the globe, someone commits suicide. Worldwide, in the year 2000, 815,000 people lost their lives to suicide � more than double the number of people who die as a direct result of armed conflictevery year (306,600).

The suicide rate for Canadians is 15 per 100,000 people. Rates are even higher among specific groups, including people with a mental illness. Studies indicate that more than 90 percent of suicide victims have a diagnosable psychiatric illness.

Suicide is the most common cause of death for people with schizophrenia. People with mood disorders are at a particularly high risk of suicide � both major depression and bipolar disorder account for 15 to 25 percent of all deaths by suicide in patients with severe mood disorders.
http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/content/about_mental_illness/suicide.asp