Suicide in Korea

Hot on the trail of Roh Moo-hyu's suicide, my grade 5/6 after-school class put together presentations for a story they made up. They went for the usual themes; boys= monsters, big guns and lots of blood and girls = princesses, romance, friendships etc. Nice to see them bucking the stereotypes. Anyway, 2 of the girls wrote a story that kind of disturbed me. To paraphrase:

The princess was very stupid - but that's OK because she was also very beautiful. Her brother, who presumably was even more stupid than her (but probably just as beautiful), lost all the family's money. So the princess decided to dig the family out of it's pit the only way she knew how. "By getting a job and working hard?", I hear you ask. No, the other way - getting a rich husband.

She met a handsome prince who fell in love with her and didn't care that she was poor. But she whined "give me money" so often that he told her to hit the road. Then she met another handsome prince (if this country is awash with handsome princes, I've never seen them) and fell in love with him and started up the whole "give me money" thing again. But turns out he was poor... so she killed herself.

Keeping in mind that these girls are no more than 12 years old (with limited English), I would like to think that their values are by no means set in stone. However, that these values are rearing their heads at the tender age of 12 alarmed me. The emphasis on beauty and wealth as the only means to an end galls me. The idea that the only way for girls to succeed was to marry a rich man is equally gallling to me, as is the idea that once you marry a rich man, you're automatically entitled to his money.
　
Then, worst of all, there's the suicide angle. Korea excels in suicide (#1 in the OECD), from the recent spate of celebrity suicides to the suicide of ex-President Roh Moo-hyu, who was being investigated for corruption. Suicide seems to be considered a viable problem solving option no matter how minor your problem is. One of my friends had a student jump from the 4th floor of their school because she was caught smoking and the school was going to tell her parents. I know that when you're a teenager everything is the end of the world but I don't understand how suicide would be considered a solution to this problem.

The Korean media tend to glamorise suicide by portraying celebrities who commit it as tragic starlets (they're generally women) preyed upon by greedy, lecherous men (they generally are, in these cases). I'm not saying these particular women have no reason to complain or be unhappy with their situations. From what I've seen, female celebrities have to put up with all sorts of pressure, bullying, sexual exploitation and downright violence just to get ahead. But how about exploring other options (like a career change) before taking such drastic actions? Maybe they did and there were no other options, and that is sad. It would show just how much Korea drops the ball when it comes mental health.

I also think that government agencies do little to discourage suicide. For example, as soon as Roh committed suicide, the investigation into the alleged corruption was called off, thus saving face and preventing any shame falling on his family. I could see how, in Roh's mind, suicide was a win-win situation.

And Korea's solution to stopping suicide? Let's ban all Internet searches on words pertaining to suicide and encourage people to report suspicious groups (group suicide presumably) to the police. My issues with this are three-fold:

• What if people who are considering suicide are looking for places to go to get help? Finding help should be encouraged, not discouraged like this.
• What are the police going to do with someone who may (or may not) be contemplating suicide? Arrest them? I doubt the makers of this policy have thought that far ahead.
• These ideas seem to only pay lip-service to the real issue of why people are committing suicide. I think it's just plain stupid and seems to be akin to putting a band aid on a severed artery.

I think some hard questions need to be asked as to why so many Korean people are committing suicide. If they deal with it from a mental health point of view, they may just bring down the numbers.

And my advice to this princess - get off your stupid, lazy (but beautiful) arse, study hard, get a job and don't be such a schmuck.