In this regard, the cases of international organizations that evaluated the effectiveness of
suicide prevention policies and Korea's suicide prevention policies can be referred to. WHO
stressed the importance of a national suicide prevention strategy, and expressed that in order
for a country's suicide prevention policy to be effectively implemented, an approach tailored
to the culture and social context of each country is needed across all areas of society,
including health, education, labor, and welfare,76) and the local community must play a
pivotal role.77) In 2017, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
expressed regret to the South Korean government for the lack of information about measures
being taken to address the social root causes of the high suicide rate. It has recommended that
suicide prevention efforts be strengthened, including addressing social root causes such as
excessive stress in education and work and discrimination and hatred experienced by certain
groups, such as the elderly in poverty and LGBTI people.
It is difficult to say that Korean society is fully equipped with suicide prevention and
response organizations considering the imbalance of regional capacities for suicide
prevention and the fact that the infrastructure for suicide prevention is not working
effectively. County regions, with heavy concentration of agricultural and fishing areas, are
the areas that most urgently need suicide prevention and response, but it is difficult to have
sufficient capacity without special interest from the community leaders. It is necessary to
establish infrastructure, such as extensive budget investment at the local level to provide
mental health professionals and stable maintenance, efforts to improve the awareness of
local government leaders, and the central government's support system.
While it is important to devise and implement specific suicide prevention policies that can
be handled by a single agency or a department, it is also important to look at and respond to
suicide problems from the long-term perspective at social and economic level. Korea' s
suicide rate shows large fluctuations over time both in total and in subgroups, suggesting that
a significant number of suicide cases in Korea are closely linked to socio-economic changes.
Therefore, it is necessary to have social and economic stability so that such a system can
operate effectively, as well as having an institutional and administrative systems. In order to
76) WHO, National suicide prevention strategies: progress, examples, and indicators, 2018
77) WHO, Preventing suicide: A global imperative, 2014
32