Kang Min-gyu was 52-years-old when he apparently hanged himself Thursday. He had just witnessed a truly devastating event: The capsizing of the South Korean ferry Sewol on its journey to the holiday island of Jeju. Hundreds of those still missing from the disaster were students at the high school where Kang was vice-principal. While he was rescued, they were not.
In another country, Kang's death might be taken as an isolated incident, but in South Korea, a land where suicide has become a mainstream problem, it's hard to ignore a broader trend.