South Korea has the highest suicide rate among developed nations. (Image: Andreea Popa/Unsplash)
By UCA News reporter
June 15 2022
One Body One Spirit movement launches a prayer campaign to reach out to people struggling for survival.
A Catholic group in South Korea has launched a campaign of prayer and rosary distribution as part of efforts to tackle rising rates of depression and suicide in the East Asian nation.
The suicide prevention cell of the One Body One Spirit (OBOS) group kicked off its Rosary Prayer Campaign for Consolation last week with an aim to comfort Catholics distressed about socioeconomic struggles exacerbated by the pandemic.
Activities include making and distributing rosaries and deploying volunteers to visit neighbors in localities covered by Catholic dioceses, reported the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation.
“We must help the person who is so weak to even pray and has extreme thoughts. Our prayers and visit can be the best gift for the person,” the group said in a statement.
The group quoted from Pope Francis’ celebrated encyclical Fratelli tutti (All Brothers and Sisters) and reminded: “A warm word from you can save a person.”
The OBOS campaign is one of several church programs in South Korea seeking to tackle increasing depression and suicides.
The rising number of suicides in South Korea is believed to have inspired Squid Game, the blockbuster Korean survival drama television series on streaming platform Netflix
Over the past five years, St. Vincent de Paul Society has been running its Lone Death Prevention Movement that seeks to prevent lonely deaths and suicides among elderly people in a country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
In 2019, South Korea recorded 24.6 suicides per 100,000 people, the highest rate among developed countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Between 2018 and 2019, suicide rates among Korean below the age of 40 increased by 10 percent, according to data from the Korean National Statistics Office.
While elderly Koreans die lonely deaths or commit suicide due to poverty and isolation, more young Koreans commit suicide from frustrations stemming from a range of issues including academic burdens, unemployment, the rising cost of living, worries over their future and cyberbullying, Foreign Policy reported last November.
Gender inequality is also blamed for rising suicides among females in South Korea. The issue caused a major debate after actress Song Yoo-jung committed suicide in January last year. Yoo, 26, enjoyed a successful career but suffered from downturns in work and prospects.
The International Journal of Mental Health Systems reports that about 30 percent of South Koreans suffer from mental health problems like depression, and about half seek treatment.
The rising number of suicides in South Korea is believed to have inspired Squid Game, the blockbuster Korean survival drama television series on streaming platform Netflix.
OBOS has also opened an online registration system through its website and invited young Catholics and others to register to be volunteers for the campaign.
“When we see with our own eyes that people next to us are struggling for survival, we must remember God has sent us for them to help. We must offer them comfort through our prayers and presence, which they truly need,” the group said. – UCA News
