Students head to crams schools in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken Nov. 9, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Aiding and abetting suicide online is being blamed for the rising suicide rate among South Korean youth.
Teenagers in need of psychological help often come across suicide-related online communities and may be swept up by the “encouragement” to commit suicide coming from these communities.
An online community that recently came under investigation by authorities after a teenager committed suicide showed several cases in which teenagers requesting help were met with derision and mockery.
A report published by Seoul National University’s medical school in 2019 showed that 17.2 percent of 134 people who attempted suicide were influenced by online communities.
“Online communities are often sources of false information, and those exploiting teenagers requesting help exacerbate symptoms of depression,” said Kim Jae-won, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Seoul National University’s College of Medicine.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that the number of online posts related to suicide tripled from 32,392 in 2018 to 90,772 in 2020, and continued to climb to 142,725 in 2021 and 234,064 in 2022.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
