President Lee Jae Myung recently called the nation's suicide rate "a disgrace," saying there is "no greater disgrace in the world than this." He criticized weak intervention systems, insufficient staffing for suicide hotlines and the tendency to treat suicide as an individual problem rather than a national crisis. Tough talk, but will it make a difference?

Koreans have heard serious presidential rhetoric about suicide before, and the country has continued to record the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. Let's take a walk down memory lane.

In 1983, approximately 2,700 Koreans died by suicide, a rate of seven per 100,000 people (although numbers were probably uncounted then). During President Kim Young-sam's term (1993-98), 25,000 Koreans died by suicide, averaging around 5,000 deaths annually. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis broke the dam: Deaths jumped from roughly 6,022 in 1997 to 8,569 in 1998, a 42 percent increase in a single year. No administration has managed to return the country anywhere near the baseline it once held.

President Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003), who inherited the wreckage of the financial crisis, saw suicides climb to 49,000 deaths, averaging around 9,800 per year. The 8,500 deaths by suicide in 1998 increased to 10,900 by 2003. Korean suicide statistics underwent two definitional cross-checking refinements, in 2003, when Statistics Korea began cross-checking with National Police Agency records, and in 2008, when further death-ascertainment refinements were introduced.

President Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) was the first to treat suicide formally as a public health issue rather than a personal failure. His administration launched Korea's first national suicide prevention plan in 2004. The suicide rate rose from 22.6 per 100,000 in 2003 to 24.8 by 2007. Approximately 57,400 Koreans died by suicide during Roh’s presidency, averaging about 11,480 deaths by suicide per year. Roh himself died by suicide in 2009, while undergoing a corruption investigation.

President Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) set a specific target: Bring the rate below 20 per 100,000 by 2013. Instead, the rate reached 31 suicide deaths per 100,000 in 2011, the highest ever recorded. Approximately, 73,903 Koreans died by suicide during Lee’s presidency, almost 15,000 per year. His administration had introduced psychological autopsies, media reporting guidelines, pesticide restrictions and platform safety barriers, to no avail.

President Park Geun-hye (2013-2017) connected suicide to depression, stress, pessimism, social dissatisfaction and economic insecurity. Her administration expanded public-private prevention efforts, strengthened mental health policy discussions and pushed restrictions on harmful online content. The rate fell modestly, from 28.5 per 100,000 in 2013 to 25.6 by 2016. During Park’s presidency, 54,000 Koreans died by suicide, averaging about 13,500 deaths per year.

President Moon Jae-in (2017-2022) framed his approach around building a “life respect society,” expanded depression screenings and launched a national action plan targeting fewer than 10,000 annual suicides. About 65,000 Koreans died by suicide during his presidency, averaging 13,000 per year.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration (2022–2025) elevated mental health into a major national policy issue, proposing a “great transformation” in mental health policy, expanded counseling access, unified hotline systems and aimed to dramatically reduce suicide rates over the next decade. Korea’s suicide rate rose from approximately 25.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022 to around 29.1 in 2024, the highest level since 2011. From 2022 through 2024, 41,756 Koreans died by suicide (he was removed from office in April 2025).

However, this is not unique to the general population. Studies find that the suicide rate among North Korean refugees is three times higher than that of the general population in South Korea. Suicidal ideation among North Korean refugees stands at 28.3 percent, compared to 15.4 percent among South Koreans, while suicide attempts reach 17.3 percent, against 2.4 percent for the broader population. Among North Korean refugee women, 45.5 percent report suicidal ideation.

Source: Korea Times News