AdvertisementSouth KoreaAsiaEast AsiaAI helps South Korea stop 99% of suicide attempts on Han River bridges in Seoul
AI sounds an alarm if it identifies a person staying for more than 300 seconds in a bridge’s ‘loitering zones’, allowing humans to swoop in
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenThe Korea TimesPublished: 10:56am, 16 May 2026For most residents of South Korea’s capital, the Han River is a place for evening strolls, picnics and a brief respite from city life.But for Kim Jun-young, chief of the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Centre in Seoul’s Gwangjin district, it is where his team pulls people back from the edge every day.Established in 2021, the centre uses AI for comprehensive emergency response, monitoring 900 CCTV cameras across 17 of the 21 pedestrian-accessible Han River bridges. Beyond suicide prevention, its most frequent task, the centre also handles criminal tracking, traffic accidents and drug enforcement.Advertisement
“We get three to four suspected suicide attempts that result in a dispatch call every day,” Kim said in an interview. “Most of them go with officers without protest, which means they were determined to end their lives.”
The intervention record reflects the scale of the crisis as well as the effectiveness of the response.
An elderly woman walks on a path under a highway that runs along the Han River in Seoul. Photo: AFP
According to city data, suicide attempts on Han River bridges have surpassed 1,000 for four consecutive years since 2022, reaching 1,270 dispatch calls last year alone. Of those, 10 resulted in deaths, a survival rate of 99 per cent.
