Kim Seong-soo, a murder suspect who allegedly killed a part-time worker at an internet cafe in a sudden fit of rage, is escorted out of Yangcheon Police Station in southwestern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap



By Kim Jae-heun



More Koreans are failing to control their temper with statistics showing nearly one person a day is killed by an assailant who has lost control of themselves.



According to the National Police Agency, 401 out of 914 murder cases last year, or 43.9 percent, were the result of uncontrolled rage. Of them, 357 were a result of an immediate loss of control while the other 44 were through accumulated anger.



A recent "internet cafe murder" is a possible example of this. The 29-year-old suspect, Kim Seong-soo, stabbed a 21-year-old part-time worker to death over what he claims was improper treatment he received at the internet cafe.



Kim and the worker had a scuffle after he demanded a refund of the 1,000 won computer use fee claiming poor service. He then went to his nearby home, returned with a knife and committed the brutal crime.



He said he was angry at not receiving the refund, and decided to kill the worker out of sudden rage, according to police.



More and more people are finding themselves in psychiatric facilities after failing to manage anger in their daily life.



According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, 5,986 people received treatment at hospitals last year for anger management issues, a 21.3 percent increase from 2013's 4,934. The figure has been rise steadily from this to 4,962 in 2014, 5,390 in 2015 and 5,920 in 2016.



Male patients outnumbered female patients, taking up 82.5 percent of the total. Also, patients with anger management issues were mostly in their 20s. Among male patients, those aged between 20 and 29 made up 34.1 percent of the total, followed by those in their 30s at 21.9 percent, and 10 to 19, 18.4 percent.



"The amount of stress that 20-somethings and 30-somethings undergo is incomparable to that of people a generation ago," said Jeon Sang-won, a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul. "No other mental illness has outpaced the skyrocketing number of cases of anger control recently."



Oh Se-yeon, a professor at the Police Administration School of Semyung University, said accumulated stress and depression due to discord in relationships with family members or individuals can all come at the same time, resulting in violent outbursts.



"At this moment, it is important to deal with issues causing a sense of deprivation coming from unfair social structures as much as educating individuals," Oh said.



