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April 25, 2009
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| In the past two weeks, 12 people in five groups have killed themselves in Gangwon. They belong to diverse age groups ranging from teens to people in their 40s, and they apparently plotted the joint suicides in cyberspace and used charcoal to suffocate themselves. Most recently a group of two men and two women attempted to end their lives in a vehicle in Yanggu, Gangwon, on Thursday. One was found dead and the other three were seriously injured, police say. The Health Ministry, police and major Internet portal operators have launched efforts to prevent further suicides in Korea that had one of the highest suicide rates among 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2007. “Suicide takes on a highly imitative nature, like a virus. Briquettes have emerged as a key means of suicide after actor Ahn Jae-hwan killed himself with one last year,” said Kim Hee-joo, chief of Life Line Korea, a private welfare organization. Police yesterday said they will crack down on operators of suicide-related Web sites or those who post related information on the Internet. They also plan to provide cash rewards to people who report Web content on joint suicides and people hatching suicide plans. Naver, the nation’s most popular Web portal, has 450 workers solely devoted to monitoring related Web postings. The past five group suicide attempts involved 21 people, according to police. The initial incident happened on April 8, when four men and a woman killed themselves with briquettes at a bed-and-breakfast in Jeongseon County. Four others died on April 15, followed by three on April 17. Five men and a woman made a vain attempt to kill themselves on April 22 after the owner of a lodge reported them to police. According to Pyo Chang-won, a criminal psychology professor at Korea National Police University, media reports on the success of a few joint suicides in the province have spread the notion that Gangwon is a “celebrated locality for suicide.” The Gangwon Police Agency has formed an emergency contact network with 4,896 lodging facilities across the province and with owners of shops that sell briquettes and charcoal pots. However, the police said that there is no valid countermeasure available against suicide attempts made on desolate roads in the country’s most mountainous regions, other than expanding the number of patrols. Yontan Corp., a nongovernmental organization that helps the needy by distributing briquettes, yesterday issued a statement that says briquettes are an “icon of life for the poor,” not a symbol of death. According to the organization, around 40 people have used briquettes for suicide in the past year and four months. The Welfare Ministry yesterday asked the local media to be more prudent in reporting suicide methods and recruiting. By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr] |
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