ABSTRACT
We discussed "Prevention of suicide: Guidelines for the formulation and implementation of national strategies" formulated by the United Nations and the World Health Organization in 1996 and the present situation of suicide in the East Asia. Although much public attention has been paid to a high suicide rate of Japan in the world, the increasing tendency of suicide rates have been found in other East Asian countries as well. For example the Republic of Korea shows a recent suicide rate higher than 30 per 100,000, which surpasses the suicide rate of Japan. Facing the fact, various measures for suicide prevention have been conducted. The UN guidelines for suicide prevention point out that these strategies should be discussed to meet each country's need for more appropriate suicide prevention. The Japanese government had the Basic Law on Suicide Prevention enforced in 2006 to implement measures that society must tackle because various social factors are behind suicides. In recent years, some countries in the East Asia also show increasing suicide rates, which attract the society's serious concern. The rapid economic growth and globalization have led to personnel cut, performance-based compensation, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor and the society cannot maintain the conventional employment system. In addition, socio-economic changes have brought collapse of the original societal and familial system, which might have existed behind the increase of suicide in this region.
