Imagine having a fake funeral where you write your own eulogy or a vending machine which pops out messages of hope. Behind South Koreas high tech and K-Pop culture, Dateline finds extreme and unexpected ways of fighting one of the worlds highest suicide rates.
The pressure to conform and succeed is everywhere in modern South Korea, and its a pressure that an increasing number are feeling too greatly.
Koreans live in a fiercely competitive society, insurance salesman Beon Sung Hun tells a reporter, Dean Cornish. Everything is about money, so we are all worn out.
Hes thought about taking his own life, but now hopes pretending to die and having a fake funeral will instead turn things around.
Dateline follows Beon as part of a group spending $40 each for a four hour ceremony with all the tradition and sombreness of a real funeral.
But after half an hour lying in closed coffins, they believe they will emerge feeling reborn.
"Its a beautiful day today, so its a perfect day to die, palliative care expert Kim Ki Ho tells them, as they gather to say goodbye to their old lives.
Theres said to be a suicide every 33 minutes in South Korea, and its an issue that the government is trying to tackle in a range of different ways…
From live music in the subway to cheer up tired workers, to a vending machine that delivers packages containing hope and advice.
Beon and the others taking part in the fake funeral are all under 40, but now they hope to grow older with new meaning.
After the coffin experience, they found that life is more beautiful, Kim Ki Ho tells Dean.
I cried a lot, Beon says afterwards. Hed blamed his father, for being a workaholic and not around for his family, but it was Beons similar path in life that ultimately led to the fake funeral.
I realised… what he did was not just for himself. Now I understand that he sacrificed himself for us. Now I sympathise with him.
See the full story at SBS Dateline's web page.
