( CNN ) -- The grief of any parent who loses a child is unimaginable . But that pain is amplified now in South Korea , due to the uncertainty over the fate of hundreds -- many of them children on a school field trip -- on a sunken ferry and how this east Asian nation 's culture copes with such heartache . For proof , one need look no further than hospital beds where some parents are hooked up to IVs because their sorrow is so great that they have refused to eat . Some say they do n't want to live . Families ' frustration : 'Nothing is changing ' `` If I do n't have my younger child , I want to jump in the sea , '' one woman said . `` Thinking about my child in the sea , how can I , as a parent , eat or drink . I hate myself for this . '' In South Korea , suicide is a real threat . It has the highest suicide rate among the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . Some point to South Korea 's ultra-competitive society or an unwillingness to accept failure as factors that contribute to this reality . Kin give out DNA . It is a culture where shame carries a heavy burden , and where there is simply a societal acceptance of suicide . Officials have made mental health workers available to the families , but despite the enormity of the tragedy , they find themselves not busy . `` No one came to us for counseling . The families do n't care about their safety or well-being , '' said Han Kee Rae , a psychology volunteer . Counselors hope more people will come for help , especially in light of the high number of suicides in the country . There are fears that some may follow the example of Kang Min Kyu , the vice principal of Seoul 's Ansan Danwon High School . The 52-year-old Kyu was among the first to be rescued from the sinking ship . Then , two days later , he was found hanging from a tree . Police said he used a belt to apparently hang himself from a tree near a gymnasium in Jindo , where the distraught relatives of missing passengers have been camping out . In a note , Kang wrote that the field trip had been his idea and that the deaths of the students were his fault . His suicide is hardly the first , nor the most high-profile , in recent memory in South Korea . Former President Roh Moo Hyun jumped to his death in 2009 in the wake of a financial scandal . And Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Mong Hun leaped from a building in the midst of a corruption investigation in 2003 , ending his life . Wherever it leads , the despair was palpable at the site where grieving family members of the capsized ferry 's passengers have been gathering . For some , the sadness is mixed with anger . And desperation abounds . As one woman , during a briefing by maritime officials , shouted : `` How are we going to live now ? '' Families protest over rescue operation .
Parents of students missing from the sunken ferry are grieving , desperate . The students ' vice principal killed himself ; some fear others may do the same . South Korea has a high suicide rate compared to other countries . Mental health workers say no family members sought counseling near ferry site .