• Journal of Legislation Research
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• no.44
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• pp.689-723
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• 2013

Suicide is Korea's first leading cause of death in their twenties and thirties. at a rate of 31.2 per 100,000 in 2010. The Korea suicide rate is over twice higher than OECD's average rate. Because of this reality the suicide prevention act(full title, the Act on Prevention of Suicide and Creation of Culture that Respects Life) was enacted in 2011. In 2008, the Korean government planned the suicide prevention programs to decrease the incidence of suicide to approximately 20 per 100,000 by the end of 2013. Despite the plan the suicide rate in Korea has increased to over 30 per 100,000 since 2009 and the plan was proved to be failed. Consequently, the government was unable to lower the suicide rate in last decade. It has shown that the reduction of suicide rate is a difficult and complex problem. This study shows that the root cause of suicide is based on social and legal exclusion and proposes that suicide prevention measures should be aimed at social cohesion and legal protection.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.285-308
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• 2012

The Korean supreme court said that Mrs Kim who was in a persistent vegetative state had a right to die if she had a presumed will or assumption of dying against Severance hospital in 2009. Presumed would be vague and can not be subjective to conjecture though, the court had a developed trial on the case. I recommend the higher valued notion such as the 'right to decide on the life extension' is more logical than assumptive will. To achieve this recommendation, I will search right to life, right to decision, human dignity and find the good relationship between them. In conclusion, I will announce that if PVS patients without advanced directives aren't able to express their will and no one could not assume their right to die in spite of meaningless life extension. So only the due and strict procedure about the extinction of meaningless PVS patients will allow them to sacrifice themselves or remove life extension ventilators. Also active euthanasia would be possible under the strict procedure of making advanced directives and the act of helping active euthanasia additionally, the crime of abetting suicide would not be executed in the legal scope.