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Amid surging teen suicides, budget for in-school counseling services declines
The recent deaths of three high school students in Busan have again cast a spotlight on mental health among South Korean teenagers.
Despite the rise in the number of suicides among Korean adolescents, existing mental health support systems continue to falter in part due to budget cuts.
While the government has rolled out emergency mental health hotlines specifically for students and established in-school counseling centers — known as 'Wee Class' — the budget for their operation has been shrinking.
The Ministry of Education's budget for Wee Classes and emergency mental health hotlines has dropped to 1.05 billion won ($774,000) in 2025 from 1.2 billion won in 2021, according to the government data.
Doubts have also been raised about the effectiveness of the system, because Wee Classes, first introduced in 2008, are a long way from being accessible for all students nationwide.
As of 2024, roughly 12,000 schools are operating in Korea. However, data also suggested that one in four of such schools do not offer mental health support.
On the other hand, teen suicides continued to surge. A total of 475 teenagers died by suicide in 2023 — a 54.7 percent increase from 307 in 2015, According to the Korean National Police Agency's data presented by Rep. Park Jeong-hyeon of the Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday.
Among middle and high school students, 42.3 percent reported experiencing significant stress, while 27.7 percent showed indications of depression.
Also, an emotional and behavioral assessment taken in 2024 by the Ministry of Education identified 17,667 students as being at risk of suicide. Including those considered vulnerable to emotional distress, over 72,000 students were flagged for additional attention.
Experts stress that preventing suicide among teenagers requires access to timely intervention and treatment, but also for the issue to be accepted as a social problem, not an individual one.
'The issue of suicide, whether that is centered around students or not, should never be perceived as a problem that only the victim had to deal with. Instead, it should be an issue that society should look back on together and ask questions such as, 'why did things have to turn out the way it did?' and 'what can we do to prevent it?,'' psychiatry professor Baek Jong-woo of Kyung Hee University told The Korea Herald.
'We need effective, stronger programs for suicide prevention and there is a need for mandatory education and counseling — especially among vulnerable groups.'
Baek added that there was also a need in dismantling academic competition.
'In an education system that makes students measure their value based on their achievements, it's easy to deprive such students of finding meaning or satisfaction in life. The system in which the students can access to seek mental health assistance — such as Wee Classes — must be made accessible for all so that help feels easier to reach.'
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.
