More Than 400 People Killed Children or Partners Before Taking Their Own Lives Over 8 Years

1,519 People Died in Joint Suicides with Others

In the past eight years, there have been more than 400 cases in which individuals killed others-such as their children or partners-before taking their own lives. During the same period, approximately 1,500 people died in joint suicides with others.

On September 14, Yonhap News reported on a paper by Jinhee Lee, Research Fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, which was published in last month's issue of "Legislation and Policy" by the National Assembly Research Service.

Statue "One More Time" on Mapo Bridge, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

An analysis of the Korea Suicide Prevention Foundation's "Comprehensive Survey of Suicide Deaths Based on Police Investigation Records" found that, among 107,995 suicide deaths from 2013 to 2020, 416 people killed others before dying by suicide, and 1,519 people died in joint suicides with others.

Research Fellow Lee pointed out, "If joint suicide is a group suicide based on mutual agreement, murder-suicide is a completely different type, combining severe interpersonal violence with suicide." She emphasized, "Because joint suicide and murder-suicide differ in process, outcome, and legal consequences, policy responses must also be distinct."

By relationship to the victim, in murder-suicide cases, partners such as spouses or lovers accounted for the largest share at 36.5%. This was followed by children (33.7%), other family members besides spouse or children (11.3%), acquaintances or non-family members (10.3%), and cases involving more than one victim (8.17%).

In contrast, among joint suicide deaths, the largest proportion involved non-family members-such as acquaintances or people met with the intent to commit suicide together-at 48.0%. This was followed by partners (31.9%), other family members (7.0%), children (5.3%), and cases involving more than one person (2.6%).

Paper excerpt by Jinhee Lee, Research Fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements. Yonhap News Agency

In murder-suicide cases, men (73.1%) significantly outnumbered women (26.9%). Similarly, among joint suicide deaths, men (57.9%) were more prevalent than women (42.0%).

Regarding the main causes of suicide, murder-suicide was most commonly linked to family relationship issues (34.4%), followed by financial problems (20.7%), interpersonal relationship issues (17.3%), mental health problems (16.6%), and physical health problems (2.9%). For joint suicides, the leading causes were financial problems (33.0%), mental health issues (24.2%), family relationship issues (10.3%), physical health problems (9.9%), and interpersonal relationship problems (5.9%).

Research Fellow Lee noted, "Even within joint suicide and murder-suicide cases, the characteristics vary depending on the identity of the victim, so different approaches are needed."

She added, "In cases where a partner is killed before suicide, the average age is higher, raising suspicions of caregiving-related homicide. In cases where children are killed before suicide, the age is relatively lower, so connections to child abuse should be considered. For joint suicides, since the proportion of mental health issues is high in addition to financial problems, a public health and medical approach is necessary."

Meanwhile, although awareness is spreading that children should not be regarded as the property of their parents, cases in which parents take their children's lives at will continue to occur. In June, a man in his 40s was indicted after driving his car, carrying his wife and two high school-aged sons, into the sea at Jindo Port, surviving alone. Two years ago, a woman in her 30s attempted to take her own life after killing her 8-year-old child with a severe disability at home.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.