‘I tell them thank you for having the courage to make the call’

Kim Bong-soo (left) and Kwak Young-chul (right), maintenance workers for LifeLine, pose in front of the “SOS Phone of Life,” which is installed on Banpo Bridge in Seocho-gu, Seoul on August 1. Reporter Han Soo-bin

On a steaming hot day of over 35 degrees Celsius, a hot sticky breeze mixed with car fumes blew over Banpo Bridge in Seocho-gu, Seoul. As Kim Bong-soo walked on the bridge, his face was covered with sweat. About a third of the way across the bridge, he stopped. There was an “SOS Phone of Life” installed on the railing. He took out disinfectant alcohol and a dry towel from his bag and carefully wiped down every inch of the phone booth, which is 30-centimeter-wide and 40- centimeter-long. “I believe people want to pick up the phone when it looks clean.”

An emergency phone with the phrase "Are you struggling? We're waiting to hear your story." has been installed on the Han River bridges since 2011 for those who seek the bridge with a pessimistic mindset. The Life insurance Social Responsibility Foundation currently operates a total of 75 SOS Phone of Life at 20 Han River bridges and Soyang 1 Bridge in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. The “LifeLine,” commissioned by the foundation, is available 365 days for telephone counseling.

The phones on the bridges are exposed to the sun, rain and wind, and extreme hot and freezing temperatures. That is why Kim, a counselor and team leader at the LifeLine, visits all of the Han River bridges once a month to check the condition of the phones. There are two buttons on the phones. The 119 button is connected to the general disaster prevention center and the “LifeLine” button connects to a professional counselor.

After Kim finished cleaning the phones, he picked up the receiver and checked whether there was any noise, whether the beeping sound was clear, and whether the phone's location information was displayed properly. There are four phones installed on Banpo Bridge. It took him about an hour to check the phones on the bridge. On an inspection day, he has to visit four to five bridges a day.

If a malfunction is identified, it must be repaired. Kwak Young-cheol (47), an electrical repairman, has been repairing the phones for five years. "Sometimes the buttons don't work, sometimes there's no sound, and sometimes drunks cut the line because the phones are in the middle of the road where people walk by."

Kwak said the breakdowns are more common in the summer, when there are repeated rainy seasons and heat waves, or in the winter, when the batteries are prone to be dead. They said they were rewarded with the idea that "this phone can save someone’s life." He also said, "When I hear about something bad happening on the Han River, it makes me feel even more emotional than before.”

When someone makes a LifeLine call from a bridge, it is connected to a counseling center. At the Lifeline General Social Welfare Center in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, counselors wait for calls around the clock. They are qualified professionals who have received training in counseling.

Counselor Kim Ji-hye said “waiting” is her job. "Not many people tell their stories from the beginning," said Kim, who has been working as a counselor for 10 years. "Many people cry before they talk, so I wait for them to cry, tell them it's okay, and ask how much they have suffered and that it's okay to cry enough." If there are clear signs of suicide and counselors think someone is in danger, they call 119.

More counseling calls come in spring and fall. The exception is during the time of the college entrance exam. Before and after the college entrance exam, counselors are most nervous. "In the early days, there were a lot of prank calls," Kim said, "but now I think there is a perception that it is a phone that can call in a crisis situation. These days, most of the calls are for counseling by people who are in a desperate situation.”

From 2021 to the first half of this year, 1,474 counseling calls and 502 cases of 119 rescues were made through the LifeLine. Each year, 50 to 60 percent of the callers are men, 20 percent are women, and 10 to 20 percent are unknown gender. By age group, 20 to 30 percent are in their 20s.

Counselor Kim said she watches the phones on the bridge every time she crosses the Han River. During the interview, she said that we should be wary of making a joke by connecting the Han River and suicide.

When asked if she has a special message for callers even after working as a counselor for 10 years, Kim said, "I think it's a courageous act to call, so I thank them for calling." She added, “They may feel like they cannot do anything right now, but if they have the courage to call me, I think they can do anything and I try to cheer them up.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.