S. Korea fights student suicide with smartphone app

South Korea has unveiled a new smartphone app to help it fight the country's increasing student suicide rate.

The country's Education Ministry on Friday said the government-developed app is will lower suicide rate by warning parents when their wards might be at risk.

It said the app is programmed to detect when students use "suicide-related" on social media, messages or internet searches on their phones and then send an alert to their parents' phones.

"Student suicide has become a social problem requiring systematic and comprehensive steps to prevent it," the ministry said in a statement.

South Korea has an alarmingly high suicide rate.

Quoting the Ministry of Education data, France 24 reports 878 students committed suicide between 2009 and 2014.

In 2014 alone, 118 students killed themselves.

More students commit suicide during the period of the country's national college entrance exam which is highly competitive.

The government hopes to launch the app this year.