Labor ministry affiliate, suicide prevention foundation sign deal on worker safety net

The state-run Labor-Management Development Foundation signed an agreement with the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention on Monday to build a suicide prevention safety net for middle-aged and vulnerable workers, the labor ministry said.

The foundation, an affiliate of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, runs a nationwide network of mid-career tomorrow centers and Ieum centers that provide reemployment support and counseling for workers. The Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention is a specialist agency that supports suicide prevention policy.

Under the agreement, the two sides will promote awareness of suicide prevention at project sites and establish a two-way referral system. When foundation counselors identify signs of suicide risk, they will connect the person to the relevant suicide prevention center; when a suicide prevention center identifies someone who needs employment or labor support, it will refer that person to the foundation's mid-career reemployment and worker counseling services. The awareness activities include placing promotional materials at project sites and screening education videos on responding to people at high suicide risk. The agreement took effect on the day it was signed.

Park Jong-pil, the foundation's executive director, said jobs and labor difficulties are often linked to crises in life. "Our foundation, meeting middle-aged and vulnerable workers at sites across the country, will cooperate so that it can serve as the first safety net for respect for life," Park said.

Jung Yun-soon, president of the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said suicide prevention must expand beyond a single field into areas that touch people's daily lives. Jung said the agreement would allow the two organizations to cooperate closely so that workers in crisis at employment and labor sites can be identified earlier and connected to the help they need.