South Korea has long been known as one of the world leaders in suicide and now it appears this penchant for suicide has spread among Koreans living in New York City as well:

Yongho and Soonhee Kim committed suicide by dousing themselves in gasoline and setting themselves on fire in their Queens home. Firefighters investigated the scene.

While the recession has scattered its distress widely, without regard for nationality, many Koreans and Korean-Americans in the New York area worry that it is taking a particularly heavy toll on their community.

The number of suicides reported to the local Korean Consulate General has more than doubled this year, to 15 from 6 last year, and there were 5 in 2007. All of the dead were Korean citizens, said the consulate, which does not keep statistics on Korean-Americans. The latest suicide came on Dec. 15, when a woman in her early 30s hanged herself in her home in Flushing, Queens, the consulate said.

The consul general, Kyungkeun Kim, said he believed that the actual total of suicides by Korean citizens might be more than twice as high. The Korea Times, a Korean-language newspaper published in the United States, reported in September that at least 36 Koreans and Korean-Americans in the New York region had taken their lives this year.  [New York Times]

You can read more at the link, but in South Korea last year there was a long list of suicides of celebrities as well as the former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun.  So suicide is definitely a problem that effects all social strata of Koreans.