A study has found that Korea's suicide rate is the highest among the 30 member countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). According to an OECD report on Sunday, Korea's suicide rate stands at 24.7 cases per 100,000 people, the highest in the group. Hungary followed with 22.6, then Japan with 20.3 and Belgium with 18.4. The U.S. recorded 10.2 suicides per 100,000, less than half Korea's figure. Korea's suicide rate also grew fastest during the last 25 years, an annual average of 5.01 percent since 1982. During the same period, other countries have reported growth in their suicide rates of around 2 percent on average, while Australia, Norway and Greece have reduced their rates.

In 1982, Korea's suicide rate stood at 6.8 cases per 100,000, one of the lowest in the world, along with Mexico at 2.3, Greece at 3.3 and Spain at 4.8.

Experts blame the increase on the culture of fierce competition in Korean society. "Research shows that 80 percent of people who kill themselves suffer from psychiatric problems like depression. The biggest factor is stress," said Yoon Se-chang, a professor of neuropsychiatry at Samsung Medical Center. "High competition since elementary school explains the high suicide rate in Korea."

The suicide rate among young people is especially high in Korea. According to statistics for 2005 from the National Statistics Office, the leading cause of death for people in their 20s and 30s was suicide. For people in their 20s, the rate is 17.7 suicides per 100,000, and for the people in their 30s it's 21.8.

"The increasing suicide rate is related to the rapid socioeconomic decline such as the increasing rates of unemployment and divorce since the financial crisis of 1997," said Lee Hong-shik, the president of the Korean Association for Suicide Prevention. "In the past, families served to ease such shocks. But these days, without the family protection, people feel more despair and more impulse to kill themselves."

Experts from home and abroad who attended a symposium on suicide at the World Psychiatric Association's 2007 Regional Meeting in Seoul said suicide is rapidly increasing among industrialized Asian countries like Korea. To solve the problem, the experts say communities should set up systems to identify the problem at the earliest possible stage.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

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Actress Choi Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

The late actress Choi Jin-silBy Park Si-sooStaff Reporter Actress Choi Jin-sil was found dead in her home in Seoul in an apparent suicide, police said Thursday, amid rumors linking her demise to the death of an actor last month.

The 40-year-old Choi has been a national heartthrob for the past two decades appearing in numerous box-office hit films, dramas, and commercials.

According to Seocho Police Station, Choi's mother found the actress hanging by an elastic bandage in a shower stall at her home at 6:15 a.m. and reported it to them at 7:34 a.m.

An investigation is under way into the exact cause of her death, but currently police are leaning toward suicide since Choi sent a text message to her makeup manager hinting that she would kill herself. In the message, she said ``My dear, I hope you take care of my children if something happens to me.''

An autopsy was conducted at Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital that night, with results due within days.

``Taking the evidence and testimony into consideration, we believe she apparently committed suicide,'' Yang Jae-ho, a chief investigator said. ``We will continue to look into the case to clarify the cause and other details.''

Investigators said Choi drank with her manager last night and returned home at around midnight. Crying before her mother, she said ``I am disappointed in people who allege I pulled strings behind the death of (actor) Ahn Jae-hwan. I had nothing to do with his suicide.'' Then, she entered the bathroom and locked the door.

Waking up at around 4 a.m., her mother entered her room and learned Choi was still in the bathroom. As there was no reaction to her knock, she called a maintenance man to open the door at 6 a.m.

Ahn, the husband of popular comedian Jung Sun-hee, was found dead inside his car in early September also in an apparent suicide using toxic fumes generated by burning charred briquettes.

Rumors have since circulated on the Internet that Choi had lent billions of won to Ahn, who was reportedly shouldering huge debts due to his faltering business. Rumors also said Choi pressured and even threatened Ahn to get her money back.

Choi had asked police to investigate the origins of what she called groundless stories, and a securities company official was arrested this week on suspicion of spreading the rumor that Choi lent 2.5 billion won ($2.5 million) to the late actor.

On Wednesday, the actress went to a studio to shoot a commercial, but this was canceled halfway through due to her poor health. Choi's partner at the shoot, Sohn Hyun-joo, said she looked very weary. ``Her face looked really bad and she found it difficult to continue and had to stop after two hours,'' Sohn said.

Born in Seoul on December 24, 1968, the all-smiling Choi jumped to stardom in the 1990s after appearing in a TV commercial for a Samsung video tape recorder.

Despite her professional success, her personal life was tough. Her manager Bae Byung-soo was killed by Choi's driver in 1994, and Choi was called to testify in the case. In 2000, Choi married Cho Sung-min, then a popular baseball player, but this ended in an ugly divorce in 2004. She is survived by her two children.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr

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