Lee calls suicides "social disaster," urges elaborate prevention measures

Staying with the Presidential Office.

Presiding over a weekly meeting with his aides this afternoon, President Lee Jae Myung called for a paradigm shift with regard to suicides, calling them a "social disaster."

Noting that the suicide rate in Korea is among the highest in the OECD, the president said the issue could not be left unaddressed.

He instructed officials to come up with "elaborate" mental health policies that involve organizing a pan-governmental body solely dedicated to resolving the problem.