In such situations efforts are often made to ‘suicide proof’ the areas of confinement so that there can close observation, and certainly no access to drugs, gases or poisons or mechanical and structural modifications such as hanging points etc.
So, is it possible? Can one end one’s life reliably and while under such conditions of confinement and surveillance? This chapter describes one possible, useful method. It is technique- dependent, and requires practice and skill, but it can be learnt. And in certain circumstances, it may prove extremely useful.
South Korean spy, Park Chae-seo (aka Black Venus), referred to the method in question in a rare media interview. He commented that as an espionage agent working in dangerous environments where detection would lead to certain torture and execution, agents like him no longer carried ‘suicide pills’: substances like sodium cyanide that could be quickly taken and would rapidly cause death if needed.
The prime characteristic of a suicide pill in the context of espionage has always been its ability to be carried as a concealed item: small in volume, fast in action on ingestion and, preferably, with no available antidote. While ‘reliability’ was an important consideration, ‘peacefulness’ was not! Park, however, claimed in his interview that no such pill was carried. Rather that agents like him were taught to ‘kill themselves with their own fingers.’
