North Korea families pressuring elderly to commit suicide
The cost of keeping older North Koreans alive is creating ****** conflicts.
By Elizabeth Shim Contact the Author | Nov. 4, 2016 at 9:49 AM
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- More senior citizens in North Korea are being pressured to **** themselves because of intergenerational conflicts and the skyrocketing cost of medicine.
Elderly North Koreans who can no longer depend on the country's welfare system must also cope with their ******** who are sometimes apathetic to their needs, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told RFA on Tuesday it is a common sight at parks or train stations to see senior citizens gathered together, even as temperatures continue to drop in some of the coldest parts of the country.
"[Korean War] veterans are among their numbers; it is heartbreaking to see them there," the source said.
The elderly, who are no longer employable, leave their homes during the day to avoid friction with their ********. They shiver in the cold outdoors until the sun sets, the source said.
The financial burden they impose on their adult ******** who also struggle to make ends meet has led to ****** crises, where it is the ******** who are asking their aging parents to commit suicide, said another source in North Hamgyong Province.
The notion of ******* themselves is not unfamiliar to elderly North Koreans, particularly war veterans who once devoted their lives to the Workers' Party and sacrificing for North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
Their devotion has not paid off, as neither the state nor their ******** are tending to their needs, according to the report.
Adult ******** complain chiefly about the cost of medicine and their parents' inability to participate in a market economy.
Out of frustration, they hang a scroll in their parents' bedrooms that reads, "Spirit of Self-Destruction" or suicide.
Young people placing pressure on the elderly to **** themselves is becoming a trend, the source said.
