PHOTOS: 'ANGEL OF DEATH' SHUTS PEOPLE INSIDE COFFINS TO HELP THEM APPRECIATE LIFE

A country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world is giving its people lessons in how to appreciate life - by shutting them inside coffins. 

South Korea is encouraging workers to stage ‘pretend funerals ’. The bizarre idea has seen major companies ask workers to lie down in wooden coffins. A man dressed in black with a tall hat, representing the Angel of Death, then closes the lids. Those taking part are expected to ‘play dead’ not for eternity, but around 10 minutes. Enclosed in darkness, they are left to contemplate the meaning of their existence.

Before the lid comes down, the ‘living dead’ watch footage of people in adversity - including a cancer sufferer making the most of her final days - to bring home the joy of being alive. Jeong Yong-mun, who runs the Hyowon Healing Centre in Seoul, said those taking part learn the value of life itself.

Park Chun-woong, president of a human resources firm whose staff took the test, added: “Our company has always encouraged employees to change their old ways of thinking, but it was hard to bring about any real difference. I thought going inside a coffin would be such a shocking experience it would completely reset their minds for a completely fresh start in their attitudes.”

“After the coffin experience, I realised I should try to live a new style of life,” one worker, Cho Yong-tae, told the BBC as he emerged from a casket.“I’ve realised I’ve made lots of mistakes. I hope to be more passionate in all the work I do and spend more time with my family.”