S. Korea grasps for ways to tackle surge in suicides

Faced with a wave of suicides by South Koreans from all walks of life, Yoo Byoung-jong has taken on a new job.

The Seoul policeman now patrols bridges in the capital to try to stop desperate people hurling themselves into the murky waters of the Han river.

South Korean suicides have doubled in a decade and are now the leading cause of death for people in their 20s and 30s. Almost twice as many kill themselves as die in road accidents.

In a campaign to cut suicides by a fifth by 2010, a worried Health Ministry is running a special television commercial.

It opens with a lonely man walking on a bridge. A voice over says: "Think five minutes more before you give it all away ... Don't forget you have a loving family."

Other ministry plans include setting up more hotlines and training more suicide counsellors. Authorities are also cracking down on Web sites that detail methods of suicide and sometimes even sell toxic chemicals.

The distressed individuals Yoo and his police colleagues at the bridge guard posts are hoping to keep alive range from students depressed over poor grades to credit card delinquents and disgraced politicians.

The statistics make grim reading.

South Korea has the fourth-highest suicide rate among the 30 industrialised countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

It recorded 22.8 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people in 2003 - lower than Hungary, Finland and close neighbour Japan - but the number is growing by about 1 percent each year, faster than in all other OECD nations.

COPY-CAT DEATHS

Experts say some blame for this rising death toll must lie with the saturation media coverage given to recent high-profile suicides by top business leaders and celebrities which appeared to have sparked a string of copy-cat deaths.

"We saved 50 lives this year as many people turned to bridges as a place to die after news reports of such deaths or attempts by 'big shots'," said 38-year-old Yoo in late December.

Experts say the sometimes graphic reporting may have triggered a "Werther effect" - the term sociologists coined to refer to a surge in suicides in Europe after publication of Goethe's tragic novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther".

Experts say the media frenzy around the shock 2003 suicide of prominent businessman Chung Mong-Hun, former chairman of the Hyundai Group conglomerate, helped fan the trend.

Chung jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his office after becoming the target of investigations into illegal political funding during the 2002 presidential election.

Last July, the government and civil associations urged media to avoid reporting specific methods and locations of suicides.