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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Unclaimed disabled people need the right to plan their own funerals, advocates say

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Speakers at a Gwangju human-rights policy forum said administrative procedures often reduce funerals for people without recognized relatives to cremation and body disposal.
  • The number of unclaimed deaths nationwide rose from 2,656 in 2019 to 6,139 in 2024, while disabled people accounted for 18.3% of such deaths in 2022.
  • Advocates called for advance funeral-intention registration, legal support and clearer public statistics.

“People do not become objects at the moment they die.” That was the warning from Hwang Hyeon-cheol, head of a Buk-gu disability day-care center, at a Gwangju forum on dignified funerals for disabled people without recognized relatives.

People do not become objects at the moment they die.

· Hwang Hyeon-cheolThe head of a disability day-care center criticized formal administrative funeral procedures for people without recognized relatives.

Hwang said providing a coffin and shroud, transporting the body and carrying out cremation does not complete a funeral. Without a funeral room, an obituary or an effort to find people who knew the deceased, he said, the process can resemble administrative disposal of a body rather than a funeral.

The forum, held at Gwangju Metropolitan Council by the National Human Rights Commission’s Gwangju office and others, examined the treatment of people who die without a legally recognized person willing to take responsibility. Professor Jung Hee-kyung of Gwangju University said unclaimed deaths nationwide increased from 2,656 in 2019 to 6,139 in 2024. Disabled people accounted for 18.3% of unclaimed deaths in 2022, although no state-approved statistics specifically track unclaimed disabled deaths.

A funeral is not complete simply because a coffin and shroud are provided and transportation and cremation take place.

· Hwang Hyeon-cheolHwang argued that administrative processing does not replace a dignified funeral.

When a disabled person without recognized relatives dies, authorities search for legal relatives. If none exist, or if relatives refuse to take the body, authorities cremate it. The ashes remain in a public facility for five years before being scattered at a burial site or placed in a natural burial area. Hwang said friends, colleagues and neighbors often receive no sufficient time to learn of the death or say goodbye, and may not know where the ashes are kept or how long they can visit.

One of the fundamental solutions to this problem is advance funeral planning.

· Kim Min-sunThe director of the Gwangju Disability Family Counseling Center supported advance decisions about funeral arrangements.

Speakers urged a system allowing people to designate who should be contacted in an emergency or after death, record their funeral, religious and ashes-related wishes, and decide how possessions and pets should be handled. They also called for people to determine in advance who will organize the funeral, how costs will be paid and whether assets should support funeral expenses or social donations. Advocates said clearer statistics and public legal assistance are needed because current law remains centered on blood relatives.

Our administrative and legal systems remain stuck in the blood-family-centered model of 30 or 40 years ago.

· Bae Yeong-junA disability-rights activist criticized rules that erase the social relationships of people without legal relatives.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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