Province aims to realize 'a South Chungcheong where protecting precious lives is part of everyday life' with four key strategies
South Chungcheong Province has concluded that its various suicide prevention efforts have fallen short of producing meaningful reductions in the suicide rate, and will now shift to a comprehensive management system covering everything from risk analysis to service linkage and follow-up care.
The province announced Monday that it will launch the South Chungcheong Suicide Prevention Public-Private Joint Response Task Force on Wednesday and hold its first action-planning meeting the same day.
The overarching vision is "a South Chungcheong where protecting precious lives is part of everyday life." The province aims to bring its suicide rate — currently 35.7 per 100,000 people as of 2025 — down to 28.5 by 2028 and below 24.5 by 2030.
To that end, the province has drawn up four strategies and 16 action items: connected detection, connected help, connected prevention and connected responsibility.
The first strategy, connected detection, focuses on identifying warning signs early.
The province will use AI and Internet of Things (IoT) care systems, digital mental health services and AI care robots for elderly people living alone to spot crisis signals at an early stage, while expanding community-based detection networks through college student welfare calls, "warm mailbox" outreach and postal worker home visits.
Alongside this, the province will proactively identify isolated and at-risk households through economic and daily-life contact points — including food support programs, workplaces and tax delinquency consultations — and connect high-risk individuals identified through integrated care and private-sector mentoring to specialist agencies.
The second strategy, connected help, is designed to ensure that people in need receive sustained support.
The province will strengthen joint police and fire department response and regional psychiatric emergency care systems, and will improve linkage mechanisms so that people who have attempted suicide can continue receiving counseling and case management from mental health welfare centers after emergency treatment.
For those at high risk of suicide, the province will expand treatment cost support, post-discharge case management and re-linkage for those who have dropped out of care. Bereaved families will also receive continuous recovery support, from early intervention through psychological, residential and lifestyle assistance to peer support groups.
In addition, the province will use platforms including "Chungnam Onmaeum Madang" and "AI Help On" to provide integrated, tailored connections to mental health, medical, welfare and financial services based on each individual's circumstances.
The third strategy, connected prevention, concentrates on reducing risk factors before crises occur.
The province will expand its life-respecting safe village program to all cities and counties, and concentrate prevention resources on areas and periods where suicides are frequent or rising sharply. AI-based intelligent closed-circuit television systems and safety infrastructure will be installed at high-risk locations, and access to means of suicide will be more tightly controlled.
QR code-based mental health self-screening will be expanded at convenience stores, pharmacies and other places residents visit regularly, with high-risk individuals referred to professional counseling. The province will also promote a culture of respect for life through training community life-savers and strengthening the skills of specialist instructors.
The fourth strategy, connected responsibility, establishes a system of shared accountability across the community.
The province plans to strengthen the overall coordination of suicide prevention policy under the administrative vice governor, and to reinforce accountability structures in cities and counties with high suicide risk.
A public-private joint response task force will be formed and operated with participation from the health, welfare, employment, economy, safety, residential and education sectors, and the community social security council will serve as the hub for expanding public-private cooperation networks.
The province will also expand dedicated suicide prevention organizations and specialist personnel at the city and county level, and strengthen the counseling and case management functions of both provincial and local mental health welfare centers. Performance in tracking suicide mortality trends and identifying, linking and continuously managing high-risk individuals will be monitored by city and county, with underperforming areas subject to improvement measures.
"This comprehensive plan was not drawn up simply to add more projects — it was designed to carefully examine risks by region and population group and concentrate policy resources where they are needed most, in order to actually reduce suicide deaths," Governor Park Soo-hyun said. "Because suicide cannot be solved by the efforts of a single department or agency, we must build a system of shared responsibility involving the province, cities and counties, police, fire departments, education, medical and welfare institutions, and the community."
Park added that the task force "will serve as the central pillar for implementing this comprehensive plan on the ground," and pledged to personally oversee progress to ensure that residents in need are identified earlier, that necessary support reaches them in time, and that the province achieves a genuine reduction in its suicide rate.
If you're thinking about self-harm or suicide, dial the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 109, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please request a translator for English-language services.
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