ANKARA

The South Korean government is seeking religious leaders' help in an attempt to combat rising suicides in the country, as the nation is already facing challenges linked to its population decline.

The government and several major religious organizations on Monday inked an agreement regarding "respect for life and suicide prevention," at a religious community roundtable convened by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, local English daily Korea Times reported.

It brought together representatives from various faith groups, including Protestant, Buddhist and Catholic leaders, vowing to coordinate efforts to provide "hope, compassion and support for people in despair."

Kim underscored the significance of the event as a first step toward establishing a "regular, sustainable framework" for cooperation between the government and religious leaders on major social issues.

The country's suicide crisis has worsened in recent years amid a continued low birth rate.

Statistics Korea’s 2024 report showed that some 14,872 people died by suicide in 2023, a 6.4% increase from the previous year.

The national suicide rate rose to 29.1 per 100,000 — the highest since 2011 — meaning that more than 40 people took their own lives each day, underscoring the country's outlier status among industrialized nations.

South Korea’s alarmingly low birth rate could cause the country's population to decrease by half over the next 60 years.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in a report in March, pointed out that South Korea’s fertility rate of 0.72 children per woman in 2023 is the lowest in the world.

*Writing by Aamir Latif