Kim Jun-young, chief of the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Center, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the center in Gwangjin District, Seoul, April 29. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

For most Seoul residents, the Han River is a place for evening strolls, picnics and a brief respite from city life.

But for Kim Jun-young, chief of the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Center in Gwangjin District, Seoul, it is where his team pulls people back from the edge every day.

Established in 2021, the center uses artificial intelligence (AI) for comprehensive emergency response, monitoring 900 CCTV cameras across 17 of Seoul's 21 pedestrian-accessible Han River bridges. Beyond suicide prevention, its most frequent task, the center also handles criminal tracking, traffic accidents and drug enforcement.

“We get three to four suspected suicide attempts that result in a dispatch call every day,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. “Most of them go with officers without protest, which means they were determined to end their lives.”

The intervention record reflects the scale of the crisis as well as the effectiveness of the response. According to city data, suicide attempts on Han River bridges have surpassed 1,000 for four consecutive years since 2022, reaching 1,270 dispatch calls last year alone. Of those, 10 resulted in deaths, a survival rate of 99 percent.

Much of that credit goes to AI, which triggers an alarm if an object identified as a person remains for more than 300 seconds in a bridge's "loitering zones," sections where people are able to stand for extended periods.

Surveillance cameras are monitored at the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Center in Gwangjin District, Seoul, April 29. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

When a person of interest is flagged, human operators zoom in to determine whether someone is simply out to enjoy the river or contemplating suicide, looking for signs like whether they are crying or smiling. Even small details matter: a bottle of soju, slippers worn in the middle of winter or a chair being hauled onto the bridge.

Once danger is confirmed, speed is everything. For most bridges, rescue units arrive within four minutes, and every second counts before someone goes over the edge.

Source: Korea Times News