A growing number of people in South Korea are choosing to forgo life-sustaining treatment since the legalization of the right to die with dignity three years ago.

According to the National Agency for Management of Life-Sustaining Treatment on Monday, as of the end of December 2020, 790-thousand-193 people have submitted the relevant forms to stop receiving life-sustaining treatment should they become terminally ill.

Seventy percent were women, compared to 30 percent who were men, and those over the age of 60 took up 88 percent of the total.

The number of terminally ill patients who opted to die with dignity totaled 134-thousand-945 over the past three years with 60 percent men and 81 percent aged 60 or older.

The law took effect in February 2018, allowing terminal patients to stop four life-sustaining treatments that do not provide actual treatment for their illnesses - cardiopulmonary resuscitation, artificial respiration, hemodialysis and anti-cancer drug administration.