Cremation Information
- Cremation is the process of burning the remains of a person in a crematorium and proceeding with funeral services.
- Cremation Report
- You must first report that you will be cremating before beginning the process. You may be penalized up to 3 million Won if you do not make a cremation report. The types of cremation reports are as shown below.
01. Cremation Report (Article 8): Death certificate (autopsy) or authorization from the eub, myeon, or dong representative must be
acquired and a cremation report must be prepared and handed into the city, gun, or gu where you will receive a report confirmation.
- Death certificate or autopsies are issued at the hospital.
- When death certificates or autopsy reports cannot be issued, you must receive a confirmation from the eub, myeon, or dong director.
02. Cremation reports for dead fetuses or buried remains - Prepare a cremation report at the city or province, and receive a report
confirmation.
- If you have death certificates (Autopsy reports) you do not have to receive confirmation from the eub, myeon, dong representative. - Period for Cremations
- Cremations are possible only after 24 hours since death (Article 6)
Only times when cremations are allowed within 24 hours (Articl6, clause 4)
01. Fetuses that are under 7 months old
02. When death is caused by epidemics and the mayor or director believes that it is necessary to cremate in order to prevent outbreak of
the epidemic as according to Epidemic Prevention Act Article 1, clause 6
03. When brain dead is confirmed and organs are extracted as per Organ transplant act 16
- Penalty when violated: As per Article 35, clause 1, if cremation is carried out within 24 hours of death, the perpetrator may be jailed
for up to 1 year or penalized for up to 5 million Won. - Cremation Method
- Procedure (Article 6): After the body is placed in, it must be completely disintegrated so as to not pollute the air.
- When cremation is for burial, the ashes must be buried at a minimum of 30cm.
Penalty when violated: As per Article 35, clause 3, you may be jailed for up to 1 year or penalized for up to 5 million Won - Subject to Cremation
- Applicable subjects: Everyone (Unlimited) - Buried ashes: Cremation allowed within Seoul, Goyang, Paju
- Cremation Process
- Operation hours are from 7:30 a.m.
Please make reservations for cremations 5 days in advance.
A. Reservation => B. Acceptance (Apply to Byeokjae Cremation Center) => C. Transport Body (Bring body in funeral car) => D. Waiting
Room (Until time of cremation reservation) => E. Cremation begins (Requires app. 2 hours) => F. Receive ashes (Ashes can be placed at
Yutaek Park inside of Byeokjae Cremation center, or done directly)
| Cause of Death | Required Documents | |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Illness | 1 death certificate or autopsy report, original and copy of residence card, basic livelihood guarantee beneficiary or national merit award certificate |
| Accident | Death certificate or autopsy report, original and copy of residence card, basic livelihood guarantee beneficiary or national merit award certificate | |
| Reburied Ashes | Receive 1 reburial report from the eub, myeon, or dong office where the grave is located (Applies only to graves in Seoul, Goyang, Paju) <Restriction sinceJun 1, 2001> | |
- When autopsy report is difficult to attain because death was caused old age or natural death, you may use a cremation authorization issued at the eub, myeon or dong office, or a death certificate instead.
When person dies outside of the country, or foreigner dies in Korea, a death certificate or autopsy must be submitted as well as a death
certificate from the embassy or consulate.
* The above documents must all use original copies.
