Among the signatory countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, South Korea leads with the highest suicide rate. More than fourteen thousand South Koreans took their own lives in 2012 (Brown). Over the years 2009 and 2010, almost thirty thousand people committed suicide. These thousands of suicides are often caused by problems within the social structure, South Korea's almost unattainable standards and other miseries. The people of South Korea consider suicide to be a growing and important problem in their society and culture and take many initiatives to help save many lives. Laws and regulations have been passed to limit and decrease the possibilities and outcomes of suicide. The country has taken several actions to reduce the number of suicides experienced by the nation. However, South Korea's rigid attitude and social structure are the root of the nationwide suicide epidemic. A social competition in South Korea has prompted a widespread choice of the most tragic last resort: suicide. Despite their rapidly growing economy, South Koreans continually pit themselves against each other for social and economic reasons. These factors are something that the nation's citizens deliberately allow themselves to become obsessed with. Being "better than another" and "achieving more success than another" is especially important for the male gender who commit more suicide than women (Victoria). Not achieving a certain amount of success or getting into debt are traits that can be inherited and can ultimately lead to a dangerous and lethal outcome. South Korea also has the highest number of female suicides in the world. One of the many reasons is suspected to be the supposed "impossible... middle of paper... high suicide rates." BBC News. BBC, 7 November 2011. Web. 20 January 2014. “The dangers of depression.” ULifeLine. The Jed Foundation, 2014. March 16, 2014. “Best Actress Choi Found Dead at Home.” The Korea Times National. KoreaTimes.co.kr, October 2, 2008. March 16, 2014. Veale, Jennifer. “South Koreans are shaken by celebrity suicide.” TIME. Time Inc., October 6, 2008. March 16, 2014. Vijayakumar, Lakshmi. Suicide prevention. India: Orient Longman Private Limited, 2003.Vries, Lloyd. “S. Korea battles subway suicides.” CBS News. CBS News, June 18, 2004. January 20, 2014. Whitelocks, Sadie. “One in Five Women Goes Under the Knife as South Korea Tops world list of plastic surgery procedures." Mail online. Associated Newspapers Ltd., 24 April 2012. 16 March 2014. Yip, Paul SF Suicide in Asia: Causes and Prevention. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press, 2008.