Suicide, despair and unemployment, has South Korea turned into a cementery for youth?

Suicide, despair and unemployment , Has South Korea turned into a cemetery for youth?

The alarming numbers of recent suicides of South Korean youth call attention to the dire and tragic conditions that have led this age group to feel despair in a country that is almost a graveyard for them.

“Hell,” “cemetery,” and “infernal kingdom.” With these words, a wide spectrum of South Korean youth chose to describe their country, in which their dreams of a stable and prosperous life were perished, as they put it. Although many of them are still continuing their battle to protest and demand citizenship rights, many of them chose in return to end their lives after despairing over the possibility of changing or reforming the current situation.

In this context, activists and critics believe that the series "Squid Game", which has recently achieved a resounding success and has topped viewership rates globally, is nothing but a reflection of the despair that plagues young people in South Korea from the economic and social conditions under which they have lived for years and devoured all their hopes and dreams. .

The world's number one suicide bomber

While, over the past two decades, South Korea has topped the global ranking in the rate of suicides, with about 24.6 suicides per 100,000 people in 2017, with a high rate of youth.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Korea , the number of suicides between 2018 and 2019 of young Koreans under the age of 40 was about 10 percent of the total number of recorded cases. The office notes that since 2007 suicide has been the number one cause of death among young people.

Experts and analysts explain these alarming percentages by the fact that a large number of young people become depressed and hopeless due to the bad conditions they face.

According to the same report by the National Bureau of Statistics of Korea, the percentage of middle and high school students who developed depression in 2019 was about 28.2%.

The percentage of adolescents who used alcohol was estimated at 15%, compared to 6.7% of those who tended to smoke.

The report indicates that young people between the ages of 13 and 24 are the most worried about school loads and breathing for better academic studies and future jobs, which has led the majority of them to feel despair and enter into depression, while a large number of them committed suicide.

In this context, the National Youth Policy Institute considered that South Korea is the first country in the world to raise the most unhappy children.

South Korea is the first country in the world most able to raise unhappy children (Others)

While young people represent about 15% of the total population in South Korea, with approximately 7.82 million young people in 2020, experts and specialists expect a significant decrease in these numbers in the coming years, if the state is unable to find solutions to stop this human bleeding.

Unemployment and economic problems

Despite the shrinking number of young people in South Korea, the number of unemployed people increased by 28.3% in 2019, according to a report by the Korea Economic Research Institute. With the spread of the Corona pandemic and its economic repercussions, the situation worsened and unemployment rates rose among young people in South Korea, and several reports indicate that about 40% of young university graduates have subsequently given up looking for jobs, as it is almost Impossible today more than ever.

Many of them described the country as being like hell, which can only be eliminated by death or escape from it.

As the problem of high unemployment rates among young people is exacerbated, the problem of nepotism is surfacing, which in turn reflects a large gap between the rich, who enjoy all opportunities, and the poor, who are unable to guarantee their most basic rights.

Several media reports have indicated, for example, that about 3 out of every 4 lawyers appointed to the Board of Audit and Inspection, the government body responsible for monitoring the behavior of public officials, were not appointed because of their abilities and experience, but were from the upper class, senior officials and legislators .

In addition to the problem of unemployment, nepotism and low income, the current government has raised the burdens of young people by imposing a set of tax penalties and mortgage rules, which led to an increase in the average price of apartments, especially in the capital, Seoul. This coincided with a significant rise in rent prices, forcing many young people to remain without shelter. Simultaneously, the number of marriages decreased and the number of births fell sharply, amid an economic slowdown.

Accordingly, experts and analysts confirm that the suicide and unemployment crisis afflicting South Korea is no less dangerous than the rest of the challenges it faces, and that solving this problem, which has turned the lives of Korean youth into hell, depends on the decision and the political will to reform.