A call from the police jolted Mr Choi Yunu, chief executive and founder of Mental Health Korea (MHK), from his sleep last August.
One of the peer support group members in his non-profit organisation (NGO) was spotted by passers-by before she could jump off the Mapo Bridge at the Han River, a notorious suicide site in Seoul.
The troubled teenager, a high school dropout with a history of self-harm and suicide attempts since her early teens and who is estranged from her parents because of her issues, had once again fallen into despair.
"She got scared and gave the police my number instead. I guess she trusts us (MHK) more because we don't focus on blame, but on support," Mr Choi told The Straits Times.
South Korea has been grappling with a rising trend of youth inflicting self-harm with suicidal tendencies, like this teenager.
The country already bears grim notoriety for having the highest suicide rates over the last two decades among member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In 2022, South Korea saw 25.2 suicides per 100,000 people, far exceeding the average of 10.6 among 38 OECD member countries. The distant second was Lithuania at 18.5, while South Korea's neighbour Japan had a suicide rate of 17.5.
Most worrying, is that the "MZ generation" demographic - a term used in South Korea to refer to a combination of millennials and Gen Zs who are aged from 10 to 19, or in their 20s and 30s - made up more than a quarter of the suicides in 2022.
Denne historien er fra February 26, 2024-utgaven av The Straits Times.
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Denne historien er fra February 26, 2024-utgaven av The Straits Times.
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