The National Police Agency compiled guidelines Wednesday for calling on Internet service providers to tip off police when they sense Internet messages may be leading up to suicides, NPA officials said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The agency formulated the guidelines for police nationwide to urge the providers to disclose information if the date of the proposed suicide is imminent or if the messages specify place, motive, method or other details, they said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Messages containing the writer's explicit intention to die would also be subject to tips. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>There were 27 cases between January and August in which people got acquainted with each other via suicide Web sites and then jointly took their lives. The 75 deaths stemming from those cases have already topped the 55 deaths that occurred similarly over the whole of last year.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>In many instances, these people committed suicide together by burning charcoal in enclosed spaces. 'We want to reduce the number of deaths as much as possible by working with the –

industry," an NPA official said.

The move follows the communications and Internet service industry's decision in August to provide police with such information, including privacy data, by setting its own guidelines. They require providers to disclose information to police as an emergency step when suicide attempts are deemed imminent or when posted messages are specific or show strong determination.