Daegu Education Chief Blames Suicide Rate on Dead President

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Daegu education cheif Woo Dong-gi has come under some fire from netizens and citizens alike for allegedly attributing the high suicide rate in his region to, among other causes, the high-profile suicide of former president Roh Moo-hyun that brought Korea to a standstill in 2009.

Superintendent of Education says ‘Aren’t student suicides the fault of the former President?’, causes uproar on SNS sites

Woo Dong-gi, the Daegu education superintendent, stirred much controversies by attributing cases of student suicide in his region to the ex-late president Roh Moo-hyun.


On May 2nd, during the phone interview with YTN regarding the suicide of 7 middle- and high-school students in Daegu he said ‘Many in high social position, including the ex-late president Roh, are killing themselves to avoid facing the problems in life,’ and ‘rather than discussing the effectiveness of counter-measures, the larger problem is the social environment and cultural factors that are at work.’

He evaded any direct responsibility by adding ‘these social factors are being exposed directly to students and young adults without any filter. Suicide prevention measures are so complex that schools by themselves can only achieve very little.’

Woo defended his policy by criticizing the media for ‘publicizing the suicide note, which no other countries in the world does,’ and concluded that ‘suicide (by jumping off the roof) is a national phenomenon. We have 1 or 2 students difference from the national average but it is not just in Daegu.’

This news caused great consternation and criticisms from SNS.

Pediatrician Seo Chon-seok wrote on his Twitter (@suchs) “No wonder students are dying by droves in such a place where they elect this kind of superintendent. Is this actually coming from a superintendent of a city where 9 students died in such a short period of time? Utterly shameless.’

Political commentator Seo Young-seok (@du0280) also chided in: ‘the person in charge of education in Daegu shat on himself by blaming Roh-Tong, without a shred of self-reflection and self-blame.’

Comments from Daum:

"Children’s suicides are to blame ex-president…. children’s lies and future corruptions are to blame current president… you fucking twat."

"Dare we badmouth the only city in the country with no free lunch for children for fear of bankrupting the entire nation, Daegu…"

"Trashy education superintendent elected by trash…"

"Of course a man from Daegu…..you even seem like a Daegu bastard"

"Gotham Daegun, the place even if Chun Doo-Hwan were to return again, all the votes would be funnelled to the one candidate"

"It’s because people like him are responsible for education in Daegu that Daegu becomes Gotham Daegu"

Source: koreabang

Comments

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Superintendent of Education says ‘Aren’t student suicides the fault of the former President?

Yeah cause suicide is a brand new thing in Korea, which started in 2009. Obviously

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

Blame the dead. Classy >.>

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

How bad is Daegu, there's some serious dissing going on in those comments.

Also okay suicides are only a few years old, what is this guy.

[iamunchien.livejournal.com]

ikr? damn.

[atelierlune.livejournal.com]

Agreed. If someone in my city made a comment like this I think I'd be similarly mad but attacking the whole city seems to be a shade over the line.

[hillando.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. English isn't my native language, and I find this paragraph confusing to read:
he said ‘Many in high social position, including the ex-late president Roh, are killing themselves to avoid facing the problems in life,’ and ‘rather than discussing the effectiveness of counter-measures, the larger problem is the social environment and cultural factors that are at work.’
What I got from that is that many commit suicide to avoid harsh life, and that the problem of a high suicide count is not counter-measures but the whole social environment (aka social pressure). And from what I understand, both of these statements are true. So why is everyone saying he's scum? Is it just because he's paralleling the former president with students?

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

He's a "scum" for saying the late president is responsible for student's suicide.

Aren’t student suicides the fault of the former President?

[hillando.livejournal.com]

Ah okay, that one's a direct quote then. I somehow thought it was just the name of the article, and names can be misleading. I wasn't sure if he'd actually word-by-word said that or not.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Blame never solves a problem. Yes, it is an issue when high profile people solve problems by killing themselves, but that is only one issue, and it's something he can't fix. That's really low-class of him to say. How about starting an initiative to actually help the children and stop bullying? How about making sure your teachers don't turn a blind eye to student problems? How about parent-teacher communication to make sure details aren't being missed? Those are actual solutions. Not blaming a man who can't defend himself.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

why is he putting blame on dead people tho? more than blaming, shouldn't you be working towards a youth-friendlier society? damn son, damn.

the comments reek of daegu hate, i'm really curious why they criticize the city so much. is dis korea's ghetto or some shit?

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Could this be the reason? http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Daegu#South_Korea

I don't know. I'm still looking around

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

hm maybe? idk but it's so strange...in my country there's this latent dislike between the capital and a southern city but it's not like we would call each other bastards on a serious note.

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Here in the States, if people hear me say, "I came from Alabama," they either turn up their nose or look at me in pity xD lol! Idk certain areas just have more notoriety than others. Even so, this seems so harsh and unfair to the people in Daegu who was not part of this incident at all.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

ikr. it would be stupid to condem all ppl of daegu just bc of some incident.

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Yes Daegu is full of criminals from what I read.

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Dang. Why is Daegu in general getting a lot of heat? Is it a rough metropolis? Even 2PM makes fun of Junsu from time to time about his Daegu roots o_o (he's the only Kpop singer I know who's from Daegu, so that's why I brought him up xD)

I suddenly want to look up the programs available to these kids and see how they are ran.

And I wonder if it helps to have a peer program. Sometimes kids have an easier time talking to other kids.

/keeps rambling and thinking

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Daegu is full of criminals from what I read

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I guess that explains it o_o Where did you read this from?

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

He is so classy, he probably wears a tux in the shower.