An increase in the number of suicides in prefix = st1 /South Korea, has led policeman Yoo Byoung-jong to a new job. He patrols  Seoul's bridges to stop desperate people from throwing themselves into the river. According to South Korea's health ministry, suicide rates have doubled in a decade and are now the leading cause of death for people in their 20s and 30s. The country has the fourth-highest suicide rate among the 30 industrialized countries in the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD). It recorded 22.8 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people in 2003. That's lower than Hungry, Finlandand close neighbourJapan. But the number is growing by about 1 percent each year, faster than for all other OECD nations. In a move to cut suicides by a fifth by 2010, the health ministry is running a television ad campaign. It opens with a lonely man walking on a bridge. A voice over says: "Think five minutes more before you give it all away. Don't forget you have a loving family." Other ministry plans include setting up more hotlines and training more suicide counselors. Authorities are also limiting websites that provide suicide methods and sometimes even sell toxic  chemicals.     Distressed individuals range from students worried about poor grades to people in debt as well as disgraced politicians.     Experts say the rising toll  in some way can be blamed on media coverage of recent high-profile suicides. These include top business leaders and celebrities  who apparently lead a number of people to copy their actions.     "We saved 50 lives this year when people turned to bridges as a place to die after news reports of such deaths by 'big shots'," said the 38-year-oldYoo, in December.     Last July, the government and civil associations urged media to avoid reporting specific methods and locations of suicides. But it is difficult to clearly give reasons for the suicide increase. Yoo Byoung-jong's new job to patrol Seoul's bridge has    .
made him suffer a lot prevented people from jumping into water burdened himself proved a good way to save lives