North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued an order to ban suicides, according to several media reports. The dictator called the act “treason against socialism”, and ordered local officials to take preventive measures.
The number of North Korean citizens who end their lives has increased by 40% this year compared to last year. “There are a lot of factors of internal unrest in North Korea due to the difficulties people face,” a spokesman for South Korea’s national intelligence service said.
The confidential suicide ban order was given in a series of emergency meetings across the country, Radio Free Asia reported. There have been 35 suicide cases this year in Chongjin City and Kyongsong County alone, with most cases involving entire families ending their lives together.
Famine deaths have tripled in North Korea over the past year. However, at the meeting held in Ryanggang province, participants learned that suicide has a greater social impact than starvation, according to The Sun.
Speaking at the meeting, an official said, “Despite the Suicide Prevention Policy ratified by the Secretary General, officials have not been able to find an appropriate solution. Most of the suicides have been caused by severe poverty and starvation, so no one can come up with a countermeasure at this time.”
Source : lopinion.ma