SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An average of 25 South Koreans a day are committing suicide, with most believed driven to desperation by economic woes, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Thousands of companies have collapsed and the number of jobless people has doubled to more than 1.5 million since South Korea called in the International Monetary Fund in December to bail out its floundering economy. High interest rates and dried-up credit also left many families bankrupt.
Between January and March, 2,288 people committed suicide, the Grand Prosecutor’s Office said. That reflects a 36 percent increase over the same period last year. South Korea has a population of 44 million.
Although it was impossible to know the exact motives of all suicides, many were believed caused by economic problems, prosecutors said.