South Korea to Target Suicidal Individuals Caring for Family, Facing Isolation

South Korea's government is launching a comprehensive plan to support individuals at high risk of suicide, focusing on those burdened by family caregiving responsibilities and those experiencing social isolation. The initiative, announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, aims to proactively identify at-risk individuals by prioritizing those with crisis information such as self-harm or suicide attempts.

For families caring for members with severe illnesses or disabilities, the government will offer up to 72 hours of emergency care support, starting next year. This includes household assistance and priority access to professional counseling through local mental health centers. The move comes amid ongoing media reports of families resorting to suicide due to overwhelming caregiving stress.

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We will prioritize the selection of suicide risk individuals by applying weights to crisis information such as self-harm and suicide attempts in the crisis response system for solitary deaths, and strengthen economic support for suicide prevention for low-income households.

Starting in September, the 'Youth Future Center,' which provides tailored programs for isolated and reclusive youth, will expand from four to 17 regions. The government also plans to develop specialized programs for middle-aged men, a demographic with a high rate of solitary deaths, focusing on relationship improvement and health management.

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Cases where families caring for family members with severe illnesses or severe disabilities have also committed suicide are repeated, so we will create a policy foundation to break the cycle where caregiving burden leads to family suicide.

Additionally, the plan will leverage emergency room data to identify approximately 20,000 individuals at risk of suicide, particularly those facing financial crises like excessive debt or illegal loan damage. For low-income individuals identified as high-risk, swift emergency living expenses will be provided without on-site verification.

The government is also exploring an AI-powered 'Integrated Crisis Household Discovery Platform' to unify crisis information currently managed separately by welfare blind spots and solitary death response systems. Experts emphasize the need for direct engagement with high-risk individuals and improved systems for providing services even when individuals initially refuse support.

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For high-risk individuals, they often fall into despair and refuse service support, so improvements in the system are needed to connect them with customized services by proxy in the field.