Experts criticize WHO’s North Korea suicide stats

Analysis

Experts criticize WHO’s North Korea suicide stats

Data based on risk factors present in other countries doesn’t hold up in the North, scientists say

Benjamin R. Young | Rob York October 10, 2014

Experts criticize WHO’s North Korea suicide stats

Eric Lafforgue

A study released last month by the World Health Organization placed North Korea’s suicide rate at among the worst in the world, but a number of scientists have slammed its conclusions.

The report, Presenting Suicide: A Global Imperative, estimated that 9,790 North Koreans took their own lives in 2012. This would give the North a higher suicide rate than South Korea, a nation with a notorious problem of people taking their own lives. In fact, among the nations surveyed the report placed the North behind only Guyana in terms of suicide prevalence.

About the Authors

Benjamin R. Young

Benjamin R. Young is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). He is the author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World (Stanford University Press, 2021). He received his Ph.D. from The George Washington University in 2018. He has previously taught at the U.S. Naval War College and Dakota State University. He has published peer-reviewed articles on North Korean history and politics in a number of scholarly journals and is a regular contributor to NK News.

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Rob York

Rob York is director for regional affairs at the Pacific Forum. He previously worked as a production editor for The South China Morning Post and chief editor of NK News. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in Korean history at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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