Extruded charcoal briquettes. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Following the introduction of various regulations by the government to stop charcoal briquettes and other objects from being used to commit suicide, there has been a drop in the frequency that these objects are being used to commit self-harm, a report showed Thursday.
The Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice reported that 2,078 people committed suicide using harmful materials in 2020, when relevant regulations were first enacted, down by 16.78 percent from 2019.
Based on the Suicide Prevention Act, the government defined objects with considerable risk of frequently being used to commit suicide in the present and the future as “suicide risk materials” and placed them under close scrutiny.
When the regulations were enacted, suicide risk materials included objects that emit toxic substances similar to carbon monoxide, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Among the three said suicide risk objects, the number of suicides committed using objects that emit carbon monoxide made the deepest plunge to 1,622 people in 2020, down by 18.86 percent from the previous year.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
