South Korea's Biggest Attributes May be the Cause of a Larger Problem

            In a country based on family values, academics, and career success, South Korea continues to alarm countries around the world with their high rates of suicide.  With a rate of approximately 26 suicides per 100,000 people, suicide has become the fifth leading cause of death in South Korea.  Put in perspective, this is roughly 2.5 times higher than the rate of suicide in the United States.  In the past three decades, the rate of suicide has tripled in the country, and now, people are asking why this is happening, and, more importantly, why no major steps have been taken to fix the problem.

            A video produced by the Washington Post stated that the suicide problem is highest among the elderly.  South Korea’s emphasis on family is, of course, one of the country’s best characteristics.  Families form tight knit bonds that, according to Confucianism, the country’s main religion, last even after members of the family have passed away.  With Korea becoming more new aged and industry oriented, however, younger Koreans are moving into the city and leaving their elderly relatives alone in more rural areas.  This feeling of isolation that the more elderly family members experience, as well as the fact that the country has no major mental health facilities is causing this group’s rates of depression and suicide to increase dramatically.

            In addition, suicide is the leading cause of death amongst people in their twenties and thirties.  An article in Joongang Daily explained that for those in their twenties, suicide accounts for 40.7% of deaths, and for those in their thirties, 28.7% of deaths.  Perhaps some of this can be explained by the high rates of suicide among celebrities and other well-known public officials.  The Korea Times reported on several incidents in which politicians and celebrities seemed to take their own lives quite often.  When one actress, Choi Jin-sil, committed suicide, in the four weeks after her death, the national rate increased by 7%.  When the well-known horse jockey, Park Jin-Hee, took her life in 2010, she wrote a letter explaining that she could no longer deal with the stress of the horse trainers she worked with.  Her suicide even sparked the public to ask if human rights had been violated.  Similar to the United States, the death of celebrities is covered heavily in South Korean news media.  When superstar Michael Jackson died, his death was the focus of United States media for weeks.  South Korea also covers these celebrity deaths in a big way.  One major difference between South Korea and the United States, however, is that South Korea reports on suicides in cases other than just public figures.  While the United States seeks to protect the privacy of victims of suicide and their families, South Korea is far less censored in this area.  The deaths of everyday citizens as a result of suicide can be found in mainstream media all over the country.

Choi Jin-sil, nicknamed "The Nation's Actress" based on her popularity throughout South Korea, committed suicide in 2008.  Her suicide sparked many other South Koreans to take their own lives, and in the four weeks following her death, the nation's suicide rate increased by 7%.

            South Korea’s quick change from being an agrarian society to being a much more high tech society is said to be a contributing factor to the high rate of suicide.  One of the biggest problems stems from the country’s high usage of technology and the Internet.  A news site based out of Singapore, The Straits Times, reported that South Korean websites dedicated to forming suicide pacts have stemmed up all over the country, but it is hard for authorities to track and control them.  A New York Times article reported that South Koreans have good broadband access, and this allows them to share tips about committing suicide.  Similarly, many Japanese news sites, like The Japan Times, have also reported this suicide pact problem.  A common example of these mass suicides is one in which several people will lock themselves in tight spaces, such as garages or cars, and die from exposure to carbon monoxide.  The fact that these suicides are being reported on is further proof of the low level of sensitivity to the subject.  Also, it is proof that the country’s people and government are aware of the problem.

The nation's access to the Internet is contributing to the creation of  online "suicide pacts," in which groups of people will get together to think of the "best" way of ending their own life.  On June 2nd, reports that four Southern Koreans formed a suicide pact and committed suicide were released on the internet.

            The Hankyoreh, a South Korean website dedicated to good diplomatic relations between South and North Korea, attributed the suicide problem to a combination of factors.  In their interview with a member of the National Statistical Office (NSO), the NSO official stated, “The high suicide rate in South Korea seems to reflect a surge in social conflicts, including feuds between the sexes, economic hardship and domestic violence.”  In addition, divorce rates are at a record high in the country.  The deteriorating family structure, something that South Korean culture is quite dependent on, is leaving many citizens depressed.  With seemingly no other way out, they take their own lives.

            The country’s government has made no major efforts to help decrease the suicide problem, however, smaller efforts do exist: South Korea’s coffin academy is one of these efforts.  A video produced by Al Jazeera explains that at the coffin academy, people are forced to confront their own death in order to get more out of life.  They write and read their own will, and are then placed into a coffin where their death is simulated for 10 minutes.  Leaders at the academy go so far as to fake the nailing down of the coffins to make the “deaths” as realistic as possible.  According to the academy, people need to go through this fairly traumatic experience in order to appreciate their lives more.  The academy’s popularity is growing as many businesses are now making it mandatory that their employees attend the class.  The fact that the Academy is now helping more people than just those that have reported feeling depressed may be the sign of a larger problem.  South Korean companies as well as everyday citizens are clearly noticing the problem and trying to find a solution, so it is surprising that the government is not playing a larger role.  Although there is a national Suicide Prevention Program, little if anything has been done to help those that are at risk of committing suicide.

Two students at the South Korean Coffin Academy wait to be "nailed in."  The Coffin Academy serves as one of the country's few ways that people at risk of committing suicide can seek help.

            South Korea is a country that prides itself on its technological and economical growth as well as its close family ties, yet these same achievements are contributing to the country having one of the highest rates of suicide in the world.  The problem is not hidden from the public, and yet no major efforts are being done to find a solution.  Perhaps now it is time the government focuses on the health of its own people and acknowledges that with success, there may still be failure.

-Lindsay MacLeod

The World's Reaction to Osama Bin Laden's Death

            While Americans around the country are still celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, it is interesting to see the many different ways that other countries around the world are joining in the celebration, criticizing it, or staying neutral.  In one of the most talked about international news events, the killing of Osama Bin Laden by the United States has been a terrific example of the ways that factors such as political background, education, and overall global attitude are reflected in the media of different countries.

This picture circulated shortly after Osama Bin Laden's death was officially reported.  Soon after its release, government officials proved that it was not a real picture of Osama Bin Laden.  The United States government has still not released pictures of Osama Bin Laden's body.

            Naturally, my first thought when researching this topic was to compare my country, South Korea, to its clear counterpart, North Korea.  After looking at several North Korean news sites, I found one particularly fascinating.  In an article by Asia Times, the author talks about how South Koreans supposedly want the North Korean President, Kim Jong-Il to suffer a similar fate to Osama Bin Laden.  This was quite interesting to read since nowhere in my research had I found any such articles.  According to Asia Times, a news outlet called Dailian stated, “Why can't we do to Kim Jong-Il, as [the US did] to Bin Laden? ... Just as the US killed Bin Laden for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, we should retaliate with the death of Kim Jong-Il.”  In contrast, the articles that I found reflecting South Korea’s opinions on Bin Laden’s death were much less extreme.  Even in the most biased article, from Jogging Daily, the writer celebrated the United States, but in an understated way that was in no way wishing for the death of Kim Jong-Il.  Perhaps it should have been more obvious, given the amount of censorship and government control that takes place in North Korea, that any information they are given would be anti-South Korea and western nations.  Nonetheless, this is a perfect example of how varying governmental forms play a key role in what the media’s message is.  The communist regime in North Korea plays a huge role in what the media is even allowed to say, which could account for the lack of fair coverage on Bin Laden’s death.  In contrast, South Korea’s republic form of government gives the media far less limitations on what they can publish, accounting for the diverse array of opinions on Bin Laden’s death.  Ultimately, however, South Korea presented information in a far more neutral way.

            The next obvious source I felt needed checking was news sources from Afghanistan.  Aside from the United States, Afghanistan is probably the country most impacted by Bin Laden’s death.  On the Daily Outlook Afghanistan, I found it fairly surprising at first to find an article called “Osama’s Death-no game changer.”  Could this mean they are telling the people of Afghanistan that they are still hoping to win this war?  After further reading, however, I found a much better perspective than I thought.  The author references Western media sources such as Reuters, and although they do incorporate opinion in the article, it is not in a way that screams, “This is what my government is allowing me to do.”  I investigated that matter and found that the site prides itself on being the nation’s “Leading Independent Newspaper,” explaining why they represented both sides of the story.  The lack of government control leaves the media with more freedom to include opinion that may or may not be condoned by Afghanistan’s government.

The President and other United States security officials watch an update on the operation that ended in Osama Bin Laden's death.  The government has received a lot of criticism over the changes that have been made to the official story.  People wonder why changes would have to be made when officials witnessed the event taking place.

            Next, I wondered what impact this event would have on the world’s smaller nations.  An article in Ethiopia stated that Osama’s death is “good news to Ethiopians” because the Obama administration is in favor of democracy, something that Africa is desperately in need of.  Ethiopia’s history of political unrest makes this particular article even more fascinating.  The website, Addis Voice “aims to serve as a multimedia platform that will spread uncensored news, commentaries and analyses that are unlikely to see daylight in Ethiopia.”

            The Japan Times Online published an article beginning with “Ding dong, the witch is dead. Osama Bin Laden…” This to me seemed extremely appropriate given Japan’s high rates of education as well as press freedom.  Even more obvious was the fact that Japan is an ally of the United States, and so, seeing some publications supporting the recent event could be expected.  Also expected, however, the article continues in a much less biased perspective covering the most important facts of the story without adding too much opinion.

            In stark contrast, an Indonesian website felt quite differently about the events that had taken place.  The article asked the question that has been creating controversy since the day President Obama officially announced Bin Laden’s death: If the U.S. really did kill him, why aren’t they showing a picture of his dead body? This sentiment has been seen throughout the world and has created a number of conspiracy theories.  Unlike other websites which may have also presented some of their opinions, this website did not make up for the fact that they demonstrated some bias and finished the article shortly after.  This article really shocked me given Indonesia’s fairly high approval rating of Obama.  In many studies, the government believed that relations would improve with the country after Obama was elected.  Clearly, however, a popular president can only fix so much.

            When researching Western media’s coverage of Osama Bin Laden’s death, I first turned to Canada, given that I’m a dual citizen there as well as here in the United States.  As I expected, the coverage came from reliable Western sources such as the Associated Press.  One article from The Globe and Mail revealed that the operation had almost gone quite badly.  Never in my reading of United States media had I seen any of this information.  It struck me that perhaps since Canada had press freedom similar to ours, yet weren’t as involved or impacted by the event as us, their coverage could be extremely interesting to research.  According to this article, one of the reasons the operation took place when it did was “because too many American officials had been briefed on the plan.”  This is a mistake I doubt the United States would be quick to admit especially during a time of celebration.  Nonetheless, it is fascinating that this information is readily available to us, and yet, our media has taken quite a different angle.

President Obama officially announces the death of Osama Bin Laden at the White House.  His speech was postponed several times during the course of the evening in order to confirm that Bin Laden had, in fact, been killed, and that the United States had headed the operation that resulted in his death.  Despite DNA confirmation, conspiracy theories continue to circulate.

            Likewise, the UK’s NewsNow, also takes a fairly critical approach.  They link readers to an article explaining that the United States should “not to continue to engage the world primarily with military force, but must do so as a nation powered by the strength of its educational system, social policies, international development and diplomacy.  They too have high levels of press freedom, and their ally status with the U.S. gives them somewhat unofficial permission to make suggestions.

            Obviously, Obama’s death was the perfect opportunity for world media to respond in a variety of different ways.  Each country’s individual situation highly impacted the way that the media did respond, and it was fascinating to research this further.  For the time being, it will be an adventure continuing to monitor the world media circus.

-Lindsay MacLeod

Do You Know South Korea?

View video

South Korea's Coverage of the Death of Osama Bin Laden

The Korea Times

The Korea Herald

Korea JoongAng Daily

The Seoul Times-Conspiracy Theories Article

The Seoul Times-Public Enemy Number 1 Article
(interesting to note that The Seoul Times did not have their own articles available on Osama Bin Laden's death, but rather linked to other news sites-specifically American news sites)

America's Perception of South Korea

            When I first set out on the most recent blog assignment, I figured that people would be fairly familiar with my country, South Korea.  At some point, anyone who has taken basic U.S. history should at the very least be aware of the Korean War.  Also, you don’t have to be a frequent reader of the news to know that the country has been in a fairly volatile state recently.  Reporters in particular have received a lot of publicity after some were imprisoned in North Korea.  There was fairly extensive coverage of the nuclear missile tests that North Korea was conducting, endangering many South Koreans.  Despite all of the history that the country has been through as well as the current events taking place, I found it astonishing how little many people knew.

            When deciding on my interview subjects, I decided to look for a broad range of ages.  That way, while younger generations may not have much knowledge of South Korea, older generations could compensate.

I first interviewed 52-year-old Don MacLeod and 55-year-old Helen Frost.  Both are originally Canadian citizens that moved to California 20 years ago.  Don, who went to college for two years, but did not get a degree, knew a lot about South Korea.  When asked about events that had taken place, he was able to answer a lot of information about the Korean War as well as stating many of the current events that I discussed earlier.  Also, he talked about how the current leader is passing the government onto his 27-year-old son, despite many accusations that the son is psychotic.  For him, the first thing he thought of when asked about South Korea was the fact that “they are almost always on the brink of war.”

All six of my interview subjects mentioned the Korean War when asked about a historical event involving South Korea in the past century.  Their knowledge of the event ranged from simply knowing that it happened to knowing exact dates and significant events that took place within the war.

Helen, on the other hand, had different perceptions of the country.  She was able to state many of the same historical facts and current issues in the country as Don did, but also discussed how Lisa Ling’s sister was recently released from North Korea after being held captive for quite some time.  To her, the first thing that came to mind when asked about South Korea was not their volatile political state, but rather how “hardworking and industrious” the people are.

During many of the interviews I conducted, people mentioned events that had actually happened in North Korea.  In some cases South Koreans were involved, however, it was still interesting to see how little people differentiated between the two countries.  Given the conflict that has taken place between the two, it was strange that people still paired them together so much.

In stark contrast to Helen and Don, both in their 50’s, I also interviewed 16-year-old Sara MacLeod who is currently a sophomore in high school.  She knew very few facts about the country aside from it being in Asia and that it was “not the best place to be living.”  At one point, she even admitted that she didn’t know anything and that she was “such an ignorant American.”  According to her, aside from mostly United States history and some European history, she wasn’t very educated on events taking place outside of our country.

Finally, I interviewed three Cal Poly sophomores.  Elizabeth Chan, a Civil Engineer, knew that the Korean War had taken place and that some reporters had been arrested, but couldn’t name the country’s capital.  Chris Hebert, an Aerospace engineer, also talked about the War and in great detail, but couldn’t name more current news.  Lance Toppen, a Biology major, talked about Kim Jung Il being sick and how the country of North Korea had been at the Beijing Olympics-so he assumed South Korea had too.  On a rather funny note, when he said what came to mind when asked about South Korea, he said “dogs.”

Ultimately, this assignment was quite eye opening.  In high school, my history class focused a lot on the Korean war, and I also watch the news enough to know events that have taken place there in the last few years.  Because of this, I thought that many people, especially my peers, would have similar knowledge.  I was definitely caught off-guard when many people couldn’t name recent events or go into much detail about the Korean War.  Also, many people failed to differentiate between North and South Korea, almost pairing the two together.  In addition, I found it striking that people were even willing to admit that they were ignorant Americans.  It just goes to show how little our country emphasizes foreign news.

-Lindsay MacLeod

Twitter and Website-South Korea

Twitter: The Korea Herald

Newspaper: The Seoul Times

Family in South Korea

It is a well-known fact that every country varies greatly in its views of family and that there is a huge array of political, religious, and historical factors that impact a specific country’s view of “family.”  For my country, South Korea, certain factors in particular come into play.

According to the U.S. Department of State, South Korea’s government is a Republic in which “powers (are) shared between the president, the legislature and the courts.”  Similar to the United States in form, the country has a President in charge of the executive branch, a National Assembly in charge of the legislative branch, and a Supreme Court and appellate court system that make up the judicial branch.  The only major difference is a Prime Minister who is in charge of the government.  Perhaps because of this fairly democratic government form it makes sense that South Korea puts great value into the concept of family.  In this republic, there are many outlets for people to have their complaints heard and make sure that their rights are being upheld.  When the government doesn’t repress its citizens as a whole, those individuals tend to value themselves more as well as others.  To me, this is where the idea of family comes in: when people feel valued, they treat their fellow citizens with that same respect.  In countries where family is really important, there is a feeling of mutual respect within those families.

Dancers celebrate Confucius' birthday with ritual music and dance.  The religion plays a huge role in South Korean Society as well as family values.

Another website, Kwintessential, gives more insight on family values in South Korea.  The website states, “the family is the most important part of Korean life,” and that this is mostly due to religion.  Confucianism, one of the country’s main religions, specifies the ways a family ought to act.  The father is responsible for providing for his family as well as approving who members of his family marry.  It also specifies specific duties for different children in the family.  Most importantly, however, it stresses that the family as a whole is more important than the individual.  The act of one person can impact everyone who is affiliated with his or her family.

Two representatives from South Korea demonstrate a traditional wedding at the 2009 Asian Traditional Wedding Show.  In South Korean culture, marriage serves as a way of continuing the family line by producing male heirs.

A U.S. Library of Congress article emphasizes further the importance of lineage and the roles that are played by specific family members.  The eldest son is of particular importance when it comes to taking over the family’s property and continuing Ancestor worship.  Ancestor worship “taught that deceased family members do not pass into oblivion…but remain, in spiritual form, securely within the family circle…Fear of death was blunted by the consoling thought that even in the grave one would be cared for by one’s own people.”  Finally, marriage is in place to ensure that a male heir can carry on the family line.

In many ways, family in South Korea is not only a physical support system, but also one that continues even after members of the family have passed away.  With families able to trace their roots back for hundreds of years, it is clear that the country greatly values the bond of kinship.

-Lindsay MacLeod