Last Year, 3,052 Unclaimed Deaths... Public Funeral Costs Vary by Local Government

Assemblywoman Choi Hye-young: "Standard Public Funeral Guidelines Should Be Established Nationwide for Institutionalization"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The number of so-called 'unclaimed deceased,' individuals who have no one to claim their bodies, has been increasing every year. However, the costs supported by local governments to conduct funerals for these individuals vary greatly by region.

According to data received by Choi Hye-young, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 7th, the total number of unclaimed deceased in South Korea last year was 3,052, which is 1.5 times higher compared to 2017 (2,008).

Unclaimed deceased are classified into three categories: those whose relatives are unknown or nonexistent, and those whose relatives refuse to claim the body. Among the 1,951 unclaimed deceased from January to August this year, 70.8% (1,382) were cases of unclaimed bodies due to refusal by relatives to claim them.

Currently, some local governments operate a public funeral system for unclaimed deceased. The public funeral system is a program where the public sector steps in to provide time and space for funerals so that unclaimed deceased do not go directly from the mortuary to the crematorium without any funeral procedures.

However, although based on laws such as the 'Act on Funeral Services, etc.' which require local governments to establish support systems for handling unclaimed deceased bodies, the operation status varies by local government.

Out of 245 local governments nationwide, only 56 have ordinances related to public funerals, and even among these, there is a significant disparity in support costs by local government.

As of August, 2,195 public funerals were conducted this year, with the average funeral support cost per person ranging from a minimum of 40,000 KRW (Nam-gu, Gwangju) to a maximum of 2,000,000 KRW (Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi), a 50-fold difference.

Assemblywoman Choi Hye-young emphasized, "While the number of unclaimed deceased increases every year, the number of local governments providing public funerals is still very insufficient, and the level of support differs by as much as 50 times between local governments. The Ministry of Health and Welfare should prepare guidelines for a standardized public funeral system that can be institutionalized nationwide so that marginalized unclaimed deceased can rest in peace."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.