Korea to kick off anti-suicide drive

South Korea will push for a set of measures to prevent suicide in an effort to shake off its stigma as the country with the top suicide rate among major nations, officials said Friday.

South Korea is notorious for having the highest suicide rate among the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with an average of 33.3 people per 100,000 taking their lives in 2012, far higher than the OECD average of 12.6.

In 2011, more than 15,000 people took their own lives, and the number of daily suicide victims came to 44, according to government data. (Yonhap News)