Police to crack down on Internet suicide cafes

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SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Police said Monday they will step up efforts to clamp
down on on-line cafes used to plan group suicides, following a spate of such
deaths in recent weeks that raised fears of a social epidemic.

On Sunday, police interrupted a group suicide attempt at a local hotel room in
downtown Seoul involving five people who gathered after meeting through an
Internet cafe. The group had devised their plan through e-mails and instant
messenger services. The Web site's manager, identified by his last name Kim, was
booked on suspicion of abetting in the suicide attempt.
"Group suicide is spreading and becoming a thorny issue nationwide," a police
official said. "We will tighten on-line surveillance and punish operators of
suicide cafes without exception."
In the past three weeks, 14 people have been found dead in six cases of apparent
group suicides, mostly in hotel rooms and in cars parked in secluded areas of
Gangwon Province, a sparsely populated, mountainous region, east of Seoul.
Most used charcoal briquettes in closed spaces that caused victims to suffocate
from the toxic fumes, police said.
The latest incidents follow earlier high profile celebrity suicides, some of
which also involved use of coal briquettes, stoking fears of copycat suicides.
Popular actor Ahn Jae-hwan, who died after inhaling toxic fumes from burning
charcoal briquettes while inside his car, is believed to have suffered for years
under mountains of debt.
The death of iconic South Korean actress Choi Jin-sil, who hanged herself in
October, sparked a national debate over malicious Internet rumors and the role
they played in her suicide.
Jang Ja-yeon, a budding actress, committed suicide in March. An investigation is
currently under way on suspicion that her management company forced her to
provide sexual favors to influential figures in the entertainment industry.
brk@yna.co.kr
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