September 10, 'World Suicide Prevention Day'... Seoul Builds Robust Safety Net with Communities and Citizens

10 Mental Health Assessments via Sonmok Doctor 9988 App
Up to 8 Sessions of Professional Psychological Counseling Per Person
AI Chatbot Maeumi Provides Mental Health Information

On September 10, Seoul Metropolitan Government will mark 'World Suicide Prevention Day' by reaffirming the importance of suicide risk prevention and respect for life.

From September 10 to October 29, for a period of seven weeks, Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Suicide Prevention Center, local districts, and related organizations will run the “Light of Life Campaign” as an online and offline citizen participation event. The purpose is to encourage citizens to reflect on the value of life and actively check in on the mental well-being of their families, friends, and neighbors.

The “Life Crew Connecting Hearts Challenge” will be carried out through the Sonmok Doctor 9988 app from September 21 to October 31. If participants complete all of the following activities — reading the “Life Keeper” card news, walking a cumulative 50,000 steps over seven days, and sending check-in messages to family, friends, or neighbors — and submit verification and a survey, the first 4,000 people will receive 1,000 points in the Sonmok Doctor app.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is sharing opinions with participants at the '1st Anniversary On-Site Communication Meeting for a Seoul Without Loneliness' held at the Seoul Mind Convenience Store Gwanak Branch in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. 2025.12.17 Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Expansion to 25 Seoul Mind Convenience Store Locations...Consultation and Assessments by Phone

Seoul has implemented a four-stage suicide response policy, covering everything from restoring everyday social connections to early detection, crisis intervention, and bereavement support.

As of 2024, Seoul’s age-standardized suicide rate is 20.0 per 100,000 people, lower than the national average of 24.6 per 100,000. Nevertheless, the city plans to further reduce suicide risk by focusing its policy efforts on prevention and early detection before a crisis occurs.

In particular, Seoul became the first among metropolitan governments to establish a dedicated suicide prevention team in 2024, and has strengthened its crisis response infrastructure by linking medical institutions, police, fire departments, and welfare agencies centered on an independent suicide prevention center and the only metropolitan psychological support center in the country.

The city operates a close-to-home safety net, centered on “Seoul Mind Convenience Store” and “Goodbye Loneliness 120.”

Seoul Mind Convenience Store is a community space open to all citizens where anyone can check in on their mental state and rest. It offers tools for self-assessment of loneliness, rest areas, and small group exchange programs. Citizens identified as needing help through assessments are connected with consultations by social workers and local welfare services.

Currently, there are 19 Seoul Mind Convenience Store locations, with approximately 60,000 people having used them last year. By the end of July this year, the cumulative number of visitors reached about 144,000. The city plans to expand to 25 locations by the second half of this year.

If visiting a physical location is difficult, the “Goodbye Loneliness 120” service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. By calling 120 Dasan Call and pressing 5, individuals can speak with a counselor, who can then connect them to welfare services or specialist institutions if needed.

Through mobile phones, individuals can complete mental health assessments covering 10 categories — including depression, anxiety, suicidal behavior, and stress — using the Sonmok Doctor 9988 app. Last year, approximately 1 million mental health assessments were recorded. If individuals are identified as belonging to a moderate- or high-risk group, they can press “Request Help” within the app to be linked to consultations at local health centers and other specialist and welfare services.

Citizens experiencing emotional distress can receive up to eight sessions of professional psychological counseling each, while high-risk youth needing more intensive counseling can receive an additional four sessions. Through August this year, 21,484 people have participated in these counseling sessions. In addition, 17 public community counseling centers are in operation to provide support that can be accessed with ease within daily living areas.

The AI counseling chatbot “Maeumi,” launched in February this year, provides mental health information so citizens can check in on their mental state without pressure; the service has been used 4,879 times through August.

Since September, the real-time KakaoTalk chat counseling service “EumTok” is also available, enabling citizens who are uncomfortable with phone calls to communicate more comfortably with counselors and be guided to the relevant support agencies if needed.

To prepare for urgent and crisis situations, Seoul operates a 24-hour professional counseling and joint emergency mental health response system.

The Seoul Maeumium Crisis Counseling Hotline offers specialized counseling services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for mental health and suicide crisis situations. As of August this year, 20,787 counseling sessions have been conducted, with high-risk individuals connected to mental health welfare centers and specialized organizations.

In emergencies involving urgent psychiatric crises, police and mental health professionals are dispatched together on-site. The 24-hour joint psychiatric emergency response center, the first of its kind nationwide since its opening in 2022, plans to expand its coverage by opening an additional center in the eastern part of the city.

On the 17th, residents visiting the Seoul Mind Convenience Store Gwanak Branch in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, were using the facility. The Seoul Mind Convenience Store is a space where people can comfortably visit like an everyday convenience store when feeling lonely, share their feelings, and receive comfort. December 17, 2025. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang.

Bereavement Groups and Suicide Prevention Activist Training

Finally, the city is widening its safety net to support treatment and recovery after a crisis, and to enable citizens and communities to collectively identify warning signs.

Seoul operates "Jajaknamu," a bereavement support group for suicide loss survivors, offering a step-by-step program from urgent care immediately after bereavement to various recovery programs. To date, 448 bereaved family members have participated.

The “Life Keeper” training program, which teaches citizens to recognize warning signs in those around them and connect them to specialist services, has educated over 766,000 people so far. Among them, 2,370 activists have carried out about 73,000 activities, including identifying high-risk individuals and monitoring harmful online content.

Among young people, 442 activists are participating as part of the “Youth Suicide Prevention Supporters,” producing suicide prevention content, monitoring online harmful information, and providing peer counseling.

The city plans to further strengthen its Seoul-style life safety net, ensuring uninterrupted preventive measures, early detection, crisis intervention, treatment, and recovery by linking medical institutions, the police and fire departments, and the local community.

Additionally, citizens who sense that someone around them may be struggling are encouraged to ask how they are doing. If individuals, their families, or neighbors find themselves in distress, the city urges them to make use of the 24-hour specialized counseling service without hesitation.

Cho Youngchang, Director of the Citizens’ Health Bureau at Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, “We hope this campaign serves as an opportunity for a culture of respecting life and caring for one another to become even more widespread. From prevention and early detection to crisis intervention, treatment, and recovery, we will continue to weave a tight safety net to protect the lives of our citizens.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.