Photo/Illutration Kim Tae-young, a professor of sociology at Toyo University (Gen Okada)

A university professor researching the mental health of ethnic Koreans in Japan will create a suicide prevention self-help group as the rate is alarmingly high among such residents.

Kim Tae-young, a professor of sociology at Toyo University, will set up the group. Kim is an ethnic Korean who obtained Japanese citizenship.

“Mental illness and suicide among Korean residents in Japan are issues that the Korean community have not paid enough attention to,” he said.

His study of health ministry statistics showed that the suicide rate among Korean descendants in Japan, whether their ancestors are from North Korea or South Korea, has consistently been higher than that for the overall rate and the rate for other ethnic groups in Japan.

For example, ministry data for 2020, the latest available, found there were 16.7 suicides per 100,000 people in Japan.

For ethnic Koreans in Japan, however, the figure rises to 28.4 per 100,000. This is compared to 25.7 per 100,000 in South Korea.

Kim conducted a study to identify possible factors behind the high suicide rate by enlisting the cooperation of medical institutions in Osaka, which has a large Korean community.

He discovered a patriarchal Korean community was at play, in addition to widespread discrimination against Koreans in Japan.

His findings suggest the difficulties of living in Japan doubles for women and sexual minorities compared with men who have Korean roots.

Ethnic Koreans have long considered the question of the high suicide rate as taboo out of concern that shining a light on the issue could lead to further discrimination against them, Kim said.

They also feared that bringing more attention to it could make buying a life insurance policy more difficult, he added.

The result was an absence of a means of support to prevent a tragedy, Kim said.

Along with the new group, Kim called for cooperation from ethnic Koreans and residents of Korean ancestry to complete his questionnaires on mental health and suicide to better assess the situation they are facing.

“There are only a handful of academic studies on the suicide rate,” he said. “We need to get an accurate picture of their situation to draw up support measures.”

Respondents can give their answers anonymously.

For inquiries about the self-help group and the questionnaire, send an email to zainichimental@gmail.com, which only Kim has access to.

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