How to Avoid Overcharging and Changes in Funeral Practices

A funeral director is a professional responsible for all administrative and ceremonial processes of a funeral, from immediately after death to transportation of the deceased, arranging funeral halls, assisting mourners, and managing memorial rites.

Similar to a wedding planner for weddings, they plan and coordinate all aspects of a funeral and support the bereaved family.

Funeral directors are typically categorized as 'team leaders,' overseeing the entire funeral process, including arranging crematories and limousines, and coordinating with mourning attire providers.

Before starting this work at age 25, funeral director Kim Bum-jin underwent a test to see if he could directly face the deceased.

He confesses that human fear and terror still arise when encountering bodies with severe external damage, and the chill he felt when first opening the cold steel door of the embalming room is still vivid.

The fear felt while observing a friend's embalming process ironically led to a sense of responsibility to directly serve the deceased. Funeral director Kim Bum-jin revealed that the decision to personally bid farewell to his parents at their passing was the decisive reason for choosing this profession.

He came to realize that the role of attending to the deceased, traditionally performed directly by family, is now carried out by funeral directors.

He wondered if he could personally perform embalming if his own parents passed away and began with the mindset of learning it rather than making it a career.

If death occurs in a medical facility, a death certificate is issued, allowing the funeral to proceed without separate investigation.

However, deaths at home or external causes require a police现场 investigation and the issuance of documents by a medical examiner, and legally, cremation is only possible 24 hours after death.

This practical issue with cremation bookings has extended the time spent with the deceased, making the three-day funeral a de facto custom.

This has always existed as an option to show minimal respect for the deceased, but it has gained prominence recently.

It is also a funeral method chosen by those who have been out of contact with their parents for a long time, only to hear of their death and wish to pay their respects to the deceased belatedly.

This method saves costs by eliminating meals and spaces for mourners and differs from typical funerals as it proceeds directly to cremation after placement, without a wake.

This figure is calculated by summing up all associated costs, including rental of the wake hall, offerings, food, coffin, shroud, and vehicle transport. A funeral conducted by a funeral director for about 100 mourners incurred costs of approximately 7 to 8 million Korean Won.

This amount includes all ancillary costs such as wake hall rental, offerings, food, coffin, shroud, and vehicle transport.

Price information for shrouds and coffins is not publicly available online, making it difficult for the average person to compare prices or determine a reasonable cost.

There is a prevalent sales tactic where some funeral directors exploit the fact that funerals are experienced only once or twice in a lifetime and the guilt of the bereaved to recommend expensive products.

Originally, a shroud was not the good clothes or silk garments worn by the deceased during their life, but rather the hemp clothes worn by criminals.

It was traditional for mourners to wear tattered clothes, such as those made of hemp, like the gulgeonjebok (mourning attire), to express guilt for outliving their parents.

In modern times, the funeral industry established a culture of selling shrouds by having mourners' hemp clothes put on the deceased.

According to the theory of yin and yang and the five elements, there is a superstition that odd amounts, which represent yang, are preferred at funerals to offset the yin energy.

However, in modern times, it is much more common to give condolence money in fixed units like 100,000 or 200,000 won, with 100,000 won for acquaintances, 200,000-300,000 won for close friends, and about 500,000 won for relatives being typical.

After 30 years, the ashes must be removed and transferred to a private facility or scattered. Indoor columbariums at municipal memorial parks allow a basic 15-year usage, extendable by 5 years, up to a maximum of 30 years.

After 30 years, the ashes must be removed and transferred to a private columbarium or scattered (natural burial); densely populated areas like Seoul and Gyeonggi are already full.

In contrast, traditional ground burial requires privately owned land or expensive public cemetery costs, currently accounting for only about 10-20% of all funerals.

Funeral directors are often on 24-hour standby, making normal daily life, personal appointments, or travel virtually impossible.

Frequent sudden calls at 3 AM or other unexpected times often significantly disrupt their physical balance.

Furthermore, they must directly confront bodies in various states due to suicide, fire, decomposition, etc., necessitating a high degree of psychological and emotional resilience.

The past custom of 3-4 day funerals largely aimed for mourners to stay at the wake hall to alleviate the grief of the bereaved. For funeral directors, the early morning hours, after all mourners have left, are considered the golden hour for bereaved families to truly mourn.

The past custom of 3-4 day funerals largely aimed for acquaintances to stay at the wake hall, sharing the grief of the bereaved, offering comfort, and alleviating their loneliness.

A national funeral director license can be obtained through completing a training program (approx. 250 hours) or graduating from a relevant university.

The training period is about 3 months, and the cost is under 2 million Korean Won, making it relatively quick and inexpensive to obtain. However, due to oversupply, an increasing number of certified individuals are unable to find work in the field.

If the bereaved family initiates conversation with gentle questions, communication regarding funeral procedures and etiquette becomes smoother.

Through such everyday conversations, once rapport is established, bereaved families naturally find it easier to consult on funeral-related knowledge or questions.