DAEJEON (Yonhap) -- Police said Sunday a university professor was found hanged at his apartment, the latest suicide involving students and faculty of South Korea's top science university.

   The professor, identified only by his surname Park, was found by his wife on Sunday afternoon hanged in the kitchen of his apartment in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, police said.

   The 54-year-old Park left a suicide note asking to take good care of his children, according to the police.

   The professor's death marks the fifth suicide this year at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Four students attending the university have committed suicide since January.

   Police said Park's death seems unrelated to the students' suicides, as his note does not mention the students.

   Police are looking into if Park's suicide was motivated by growing pressure from the state audit. Park's colleagues told police that the professor expressed worries about the audit result, police said.

   South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with 24.3 people out of every 100,000 having taken their own lives in 2008, the latest figure available. (Yonhap News)