Mirrors in subway stations

Seoul, South Korea:

Between the roar of incoming trains, music floats across the platforms of Seoul's labyrinthian subway network. The musty air fills with the soothing sounds of Beethoven's "Fur Elise'' or Ben E. King's "Stand By Me.'' As the music fades, a preacher-like male voice appeals: "Dear passengers, let's think again about the parents and sisters and brothers we love and the preciousness of our life.''

Seoul's subway authorities believe such tunes and broadcasts will relieve the stress of harried Seoul citizens and fight a growing social problem: people who choose to kill themselves in subway stations. Driven by debt, lost love, terminal disease, and other miseries of life, 95 people killed themselves by jumping in front of subway trains in Seoul last year, up sharply from the 58 in 2002. So far this year, 37 people have ended their lives the same way.

"Some wear black plastic bags over their heads when jumping to the tracks,'' said Park Suk-soon, an official at Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp., one of three corporations that run the capital's subway network. "For some reason, those suicidal people who don't wear bags sometimes lock their eyes with the drivers in the split second before they are hit by the train.''

One driver who exchanged gazes with a man who died under his train later suffered a mental breakdown and was transferred to a non-driving post.

In an unrelated case last year, a subway driver with a history of mental problems committed suicide by jumping in front of a colleague's train. "We are shocked by the sudden rise in the suicide figures,'' said Lim Jong-hyuk, an official at the Korea National Railroad. "The goal of our 'music therapy' is to soothe the minds of potential suicides. Experts say it works on animals.'' Beginning early this month, subway stations are broadcasting 76 classical and other tunes that experts say will help people think twice about their "spur-of-the-moment suicidal impulses.'' The list includes "El Condor Pasa,'' "Sailing'' and "Bridge Over Troubled Water.''

The so-called "suicide-prevention music'' is one of several measures introduced by Seoul's subway system, which carries 6 million passengers daily. Authorities are setting up "safety-fences'' - screen doors along the platforms that open only when the subway train pulls in. They also plan to install emergency buttons for platform passengers to alert drivers when they spot a person who appears on the verge of jumping.

Stations are broadcasting recorded appeals to passengers to show more care for neighbors. Posters and leaflets provide contact numbers for free counseling. Electronic boards inside subway cars and platforms flash the sign: "Giving up your life will inflict an unbearable pain on your family and the society!''

Statistics show 13,055 South Koreans killed themselves in 2002, up 778 from the previous year and more than the 12,458 who committed suicide in 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis, a traumatic period for the nation of 48 million people. The suicide rate is marginally higher than in neighboring Japan, where 32,143 people killed themselves in 2002. Japan's total population is roughly 126 million.

Subway suicides have also been a problem in Japan. In Tokyo, authorities once installed mirrors on the wall at the incoming end of platforms, where most people jump, theorizing that people would change their mind if they looked at themselves in the mirror.

The recent surge in subway suicides has disturbed South Korea, where suicides in public view have been relatively rare.