In 2024, South Korea recorded its highest number of suicides in 13 years, with a total of 14,872, a 6.3 per cent increase over the previous year. The causes lie in the intense social pressure imposed from childhood to excel in studies and careers. Seeking psychological support continues to be seen as a failure, preventing young people from getting proper help.
Bishop Moon of Cheju, chairman of the Bishops' Conference's Committee for Family and Life, met with Democratic Party lawmakers who are promoting a bill that the Church sees as a path towards unlimited abortions. The issue came to the fore in 2019 after a ruling by the Constitutional Court. For Bishop, “We must move towards respect for life.”
More than 300 South Korean workers were arrested at a Savannah, Georgia electric battery plant. While President Donald Trump called them “illegal immigrants”, they are in fact engineers needed in a plant owned by South Korean company that has invested in the United States to meet the president’s demands. In South Korea, the incident has sparked outrage and raised fears about defence cooperation.
The canonisation of the young man who lived between 1991 and 2006 and used the internet to spread the faith will take place tomorrow in St Peter's, together with Piergiorgio Frassati. Some of his relics are also travelling to Asian countries, where his peers are getting to know him. A ‘great message of hope’ for young Koreans preparing for the next World Youth Day. In Bangkok, young people say: ‘He is one of us.’ A new seminary named after him in Laos.
According to data from the Seoul government, there have been 252 reported cases of kidnappings for these activities run by transnational criminal groups. The testimony of a girl who was rescued: ‘They deceived me, robbed me and kept me together with other people identified only by a number instead of a name.’ In August, a fellow countryman was found dead with signs of torture.
At the White House summit, Trump said he was open to the idea. The meeting could take place in conjunction with the APEC summit in Gyeongju at the end of October, which Trump is expected to attend. So far, North Korea has made it a precondition that the US not continue to demand denuclearisation. Meanwhile, Lee has pledged to increase South Korea’s military spending and invest US$ 150 billion in shipbuilding in the US.
