47 55 death row inmates according to Ministry of Justice statistics and 4 according to military statistics (confirmed by the Ministry of Justice in July 2023). 48 NHRCK, Opinion on the abolition of the death penalty (April 2005); Recommendation to sign the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty (September 2018); and Opinion in favor of the abolition of the death penalty submitted to the Constitutional Court concerning a constitutional petition against the death penalty (Case No. 2019Hun-Ba59, February 2021). 49 According to the 2018-2021 Annual Report on Causes of Death by Statistics Korea, suicide was the leading cause of death for people in their 10s, 20s, and 30s, the second leading cause of death for people in their 40s and 50s, and the leading cause of death except for diseases in all age groups over 10 years of age in 2018-2021. According to OECD health statistics, suicide deaths in Korea were 24.6 per 100,000 population as of 2019, which was not only the highest among the OECD member countries, but also more than double the OECD average of 11.0. According to the 2021 death statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), the suicide rate for people in their 30s, 40s, 60s, and 70s or older in Korea was the highest among the OECD member countries, and the suicide rate for the elderly was overwhelmingly high. Per 100,000 population, 74.6 men and 23.5 women in their 70s, and 133.4 men and 35.5 women in their 80s or older take their own lives. 50 Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2023 Suicide Prevention Projects Guide (April 2023). 51 Status of deaths in the military per year (Source: e-country index) (Unit: case, percent) 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Average Total deaths in the military (A) 81 76 86 86 55 103 81 Suicides in the military (B) 54 52 56 62 42 83 58 Suicide rate (B/A) 66.7 68.4 65.1 72.1 76.4 80.6 71.7 52 The ratio of suicides by officers on leadership positions out of the total suicides in the armed forces increased from 56.4 percent in 2019 to 64.2 percent in 2020 and 70 percent in 2021. In particular, the number of suicides by officers on junior leadership positions within 1-3 years following their commission was high, accounting for approximately 60 percent of the total suicides by military officers as of 2018 (Source: Ministry of National Defense). According to the result of an ex officio investigation conducted by the NHRCK in 2019, junior officers, mostly in their mid-20s, are in a dual position where they take responsibility for commanding soldiers and take orders from and obey their superiors, putting themselves in very stressful conditions. The causes of their suicides were typically categorized as heavy workload, stress, verbal abuse or assault by seniors or superiors, etc. (NHRCK, Recommendation for the improvement of system to prevent junior officers from committing suicide, Case No. 19Jikkwon004300, July 2020). 53 NHRCK, Recommendation for the improvement of mental health system for suicide prevention among the elderly (December 2019). 54 NHRCK, Recommendation for the improvement of system for expanding mental health services and improving youth accessibility (December 2022). 55 NHRCK, The NHRCK written submission on the 4th cycle of Universal Periodic Review for the Republic of Korea (July 2022). 32