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Park Tae-young, the governor of South Jeolla Province, ended his own life Thursday by jumping into the Han River. What drove him to his death cannot be known precisely. He was in the middle of being investigated for past incidences of corruption. One can only surmise that psychological pressure from the investigation must have been a reason for the suicide. It must be determined whether an unbearable sense of personal insult during the investigation led to Park taking his own life.
It¡¯s not easy to talk about this and that concerning a person¡¯s decision to choose his or her own death. The reason why, however, we feel that his death may not be a purely personal problem is because leading members of our society have been committing suicide left and right.
Last August, Hyundai Asan chief Chung Mong-hun leaped to his death from Hyundai¡¯s company headquarters. After that, Buan mayor Ahn Sang-yeong, Daewoo Construction head Nam Sang-guk and Gwangu University president Kim In-gon took their lives in turn. Of course, each had his own reason for choosing death.
But why would these people, who had accomplished so much in their own political, economic or social spheres, give up on everything as soon as they experienced setbacks? One wonders if these tragic acts reveal some hidden aspect of our society, or whether, from some unknown point, our understanding of life and death has changed.
Even though it¡¯s not only famous figures, but for our society¡¯s middle aged and elderly, the turning point between success and failure is unexpectedly befalling them in a manner which is too extreme. For the successes and social position resulting from a life¡¯s work to disappear in the flash of a moment into the cavity of corruption is a life transformation that would be hard to bear for anyone. With the current trend in which the entire era is swept up by abstract concepts like ¡°change¡± and ¡°reform¡± and the energy of the youth seems like everything, the alienation and powerlessness of the older generations might be increasing as well.
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