No echoes. No voices. Not even whispers. Indescribable anguish roars across our nation in silence. Every hour, a person throws himself to die, and yet, the press no longer reports, and lawmakers offer only half-hearted responses. The public remains indifferent as if the crisis has faded into mere statistics. Headlines shout about cancer and cardiac diseases as a severe matter, but little knows that suicide is the number one cause of death among the young generation.
It has been decades since Korea’s suicide rate became overwhelmingly highest among all OECD countries. Referring to 2023 statistics, 27.3 people committed suicide per ten thousand people, when the average of OECD countries was approximately 10.7 people per ten thousand people. Korea’s suicide rate is more than 2.5 times higher than the OECD average suicide rate. Korea’s suicide rate seemed to be decreasing since 2011, but after recording 24.3 in 2017, it has kept increasing. Even worse, suicide is the primary reason for the deaths of people in their 10s, 20s, and 30s. Young people are dying not because of accidents or diseases but because they are killing themselves. In fact, the suicide rates of the young generation went sideways and even increased among teenagers, while the whole suicide rate declined a little since 2011.
This is a bitter crisis. Too intense to even know where to start untangling the problem. Ironically, people exercise and go on a diet to get healthier, but no one cares about their mental health, which is what is ruining them. The stigma surrounding mental health in Korea remains deeply ingrained, preventing open discussions and accessible interventions. People’s perceptions have improved in recent years; still, many suffer in silence, trapped between relentless academic and workplace pressures, financial burdens, and an overwhelming sense of despair. The weight of unattainable expectations suffocates the young generation, yet society continues to glorify resilience and perseverance at the cost of well-being.
The question remains: How many more lives must be lost before suicide is treated with the same urgency as other public health concerns? The media’s selective silence, the government’s half-hearted measures, and the public’s passive indifference all contribute to an ongoing tragedy.
Korea must redefine its approach to mental health, shifting from reactionary measures to proactive, systemic change. Schools must incorporate mental health education, workplaces must foster environments open to emotional struggles, and communities must embrace empathy over judgment. Above all, people must start acknowledging that mental well-being is just as crucial as physical health. Until then, the silence will persist, broken only by the unreported tragedies every hour.
