Suicide: A societal failure, not an extreme choice

I am sure we can bring down our alarming suicide rate through a concerted effort and bold investments, just as we did in Africa to treat AIDS patients.

Jim Yong Kim

The author, an American physician, is a former president of the World Bank Group. Sept. 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, as designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) back in 2003. When I became president of the World Bank Group in 2012, I was happy with the praise of “Korea’s miracle” by the leaders of world. Whenever they met me, they wondered at how the poorest country could grow to be the 10th largest economy in such a short period of time. Now, K-pop and other genres in Hallyu, or the Korean wave, have become a cultural phenomenon sweeping the globe.

But now, at the apparent peak of Korea’s success, those world leaders often ask me quite different questions. “Korea seems to have achieved great success, but why is its suicide rate so high now?” and “What went wrong in Korea from the start?” referring to Korea’s birthrate, one of the lowest in the world.

In terms of suicide since the 1997-98 foreign exchange reserve crisis, Korea admittedly has been in a state of permanent disaster. The country’s suicide rate was the highest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the last 20 years, except for two years. Thirty-six people per day — and more than 13,000 per year — end their life on their own.

Family members who are left behind struggle to deal with the immense pain and harsh social stigma. In the past three years, Korea has lost more people from suicide than from the Covid-19 pandemic. Korean women’s suicide rate is three times the OECD average. Suicide is the biggest cause of death among teens and those in their 20s and 30s in Korea.

Suicide not only ends precious lives but also incurs trillions of won (billions of dollars) worth of losses each year in economic terms. A recent economic study showed that the social cost from suicide is similar to the cost from cancers.

Article 10 of our Constitution states, “All citizens shall be assured of human worth and dignity and have the right to pursuit of happiness,” which includes the people’s right to life. Clause 6 of Article 34 of the Constitution also stipulates, “The State shall endeavor to prevent disasters and to protect citizens from harm therefrom.” To keep the promise to the people, the state must take resolute actions to cope with the ongoing disaster of suicide.

It is time to ask ourselves if we are really doing our best to protect our people — and if we have become insensitive to the gloomy news that Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD members. Japan succeeded in lowering its suicide rate by as much as 30 percent in just 10 years, after allotting nearly 20 times more money than Korea’s to prevent suicide. Japan’s suicide rate, which doubled Korea’s in the 1990s, has fallen to just two-thirds of Korea’s.

Korea must end its dishonor as a “republic of suicide” by aggressively investing in the prevention of suicide. The country must accept the fact that suicide does not represent an extreme choice but a societal failure. Such a change of mind will mark a starting point to turn the failure into a societal victory. This is not “your job,” but “our duty.”

A recent study shows that one out of every four Koreans has lost one of their relatives, friends or otherwise meaningful relationships from suicide. Just like Koreans have overcome innumerable hardships and crises in the past, we must launch a battle against the plague of suicide and win.

Many people would doubt that we could win the fight against suicide. While working with the legendary WTO Director-General Lee Jong-wook, we set the ambitious goal of offering medicines to 3 million people who tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in developing countries within two and half years. At that time, only a few thousands AIDS patients in Africa were receiving treatment.

Many public health experts said it was impossible to treat AIDS in Africa, but we pressed ahead with it. Thanks to our aggressive effort, 17 million HIV/AIDS patients could receive the treatment. I am sure we can bring down our alarming suicide rate through a concerted effort and bold investments, just as we did in Africa to treat AIDS patients. I look forward to working with Korean people in the near future to achieve another victory in an uphill battle against suicide in my home country.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.