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Funerals for the living in bid to tackle South Korea's high suicide rate


  
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The Guardian - South Koreans are being encouraged to take part in their own mock funerals, as the country turns to shock therapy in the hope of tackling a suicide rate so high it is the fourth most common form of death in the country.

At a recent “mass funeral” in the capital Seoul, employees of a recruitment company were told to write wills and farewell letters. Many of the participants, dressed in white robes, were moved to tears as they contemplated the pain their deaths would cause their families and friends.

Before climbing into their caskets, they watched inspirational videos of their compatriots, including cancer sufferers and people with disabilities, who had overcome adversity.

In silence, they lay inside the caskets, each clutching their own photograph. After a man dressed in black – representing the Angel of Darkness – closed the lids, they were confined for 10 minutes, supposedly to ponder their simulated departure into the hereafter.

Despite its macabre overtones, the exercise is designed to emphasise the value of living, according to Jeong Yong-mun, a former funeral director who pioneered the therapy at the Hyowon Healing Centre in Seoul.

When the visibly shaken employees emerged from their coffins, Jeong told them: “You have seen what death feels like, you are alive, and you must fight!”

The president of the recruitment company, Park Chun-woong, said he thought the experiment would strengthen camaraderie among his employees and give them a new perspective on life.

Tackling the large number of suicides has become a matter of urgency in South Korea, which has the highest rate in the industrialised word.

The country’s rise to become Asia’s fourth biggest economy has put pressure on its citizens to succeed academically, and then to demonstrate unfailing loyalty to their company, even to the detriment of their mental health.

A quarter of South Korea’s workforce suffers from high levels of stress, according to the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association.





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