Every year since 2004,... September 10th, has been observed as World Suicide Prevention Day.
South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world,... and the government has been stepping up efforts to prevent people from committing suicides.
Our Eum Ji-young has more.
Data suggest that globally, someone takes their life every 40 seconds.
According to new figures published Monday by the World Health Organization, the number of suicides around the world in 2016, standardized by age, was 10-point-5 per every hundred-thousand people.
The WHO, in its report, said one important way the global suicide rate can be brought down is to restrict access to pesticides, which can be used for self-poisoning.
For instance, Sri Lanka's suicide rate from 1995 to 2015, dropped by a whopping 70 percent after certain dangerous pesticides were banned.
Similar measures in South Korea reduced suicide numbers by half from 2011 to 2013.
Despite these efforts, South Korea's suicide rate has been the highest among the OECD countries since 2005 the rate in 2017 stood at 24-point-3 people in every hundred thousand.
The first World Suicide Prevention Day was commemorated on September 10th 2004.
In 2011, South Korea made national suicide prevention day a national observance, and designated the week starting on that date as Suicide Prevention Week... to educate people, raise awareness, and ultimately prevent people from taking their own lives.
Just this Monday, ahead of this year's observance, the government launched a national suicide prevention committee.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who chairs it, said the current administration is the first to put the issue at the top of the national agenda.
"It is important to set up a tight safety net in local communities to prevent suicide. We can prevent suicide only when more local communities work together."
Ministry of Health and Welfare is also holding a convention in Seoul today at Coex... to prevent suicides and encourage respect for life.
Eum Ji-young, Arirang News.