South Korea Aims to Tackle High Suicide Rate

|PIC1|A campaign to tackle South Korea's high suicide rate is being planned by the country's health officials.

Suicide has become a major issue since statistics showed a sharp rise in the number of South Koreans taking their own lives, doubling in five years, the BBC reports.

Officials are considering a range of steps which include setting up more counselling centres and removing internet sites that might encourage suicide.

The recent suicide death of a prominent actress has added to the national soul searching.

Yuni, a successful actress turned pop star, committed suicide in January at the age of 26, followed by the suicide of popular actress Jung Dabin, 26, in February.

Now South Korean health officials say they are planning a range of measures to tackle the problem. Although details of the campaign have yet to be finalised, they plan to expand counselling facilities and launch a drive to educate people about the risks of depression.

They also want to tackle the growing number of internet suicide sites that explain how to take your own life and in some cases encourage people to do so.

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, South Korea has the highest suicide rate of any of its 30 members, which are almost all developed countries.

South Korea hopes it can follow the example of Finland, which cut suicides by a third in just over a decade.