Political gridlock fuels Korea’s looming crematorium crisis

Korea’s cremation rate stands at roughly 95 percent. If even a portion of the original projects had succeeded, the cremation shortages now looming could have been prevented.

Park Tae-ho

The author is a co-representative of the Forum for Funeral and Cremation Culture Studies

Temperatures across Korea continue to approach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and the risk of a crematorium crisis rises in tandem. Just as severe cold spells have triggered surges in cremation demand in past winters, prolonged heat can also push facilities to their limits. In a super-aged society where cremation needs are climbing steadily, it is frustrating to think that a nationwide shortage could strike at any time.

Over the past two decades, more than 50 planned cremation furnaces were never built due to stalled projects. Had these facilities been completed on schedule, the country might have avoided the recurring bottlenecks. A closer look at the failures points squarely at politics. Whenever a new crematorium was proposed, local politicians often led opposition movements, residents followed or looked the other way, and plans collapsed. Public officials who tried to push the projects forward were left disheartened.

Korea has faced frequent crematorium bottlenecks due to delays in building new facilities. Such situations became common during the Covid-19 pandemic and recur almost every winter, when elderly deaths rise from influenza and other seasonal illnesses. The photo shows the parking lot of the Seoul Municipal Seunghwawon Crematorium in Deogyang District, Goyang, Gyeonggi, filled with funeral vehicles in March 2022. [NEWS1]

A similar pattern is unfolding today. A plan to build a joint crematorium for six municipalities in northern Gyeonggi is now in jeopardy. The dynamics are familiar: local political figures leveraging opposition to raise their profile while long-term public needs are sidelined.

I vividly recall the early 1990s protests against the construction of the Busan Municipal Crematorium inside the Yeongnak Cemetery. Residents staged demonstrations at the cemetery and in front of City Hall, while religious groups held hunger strikes that stretched on for days. Elected officials from the district and their political allies led the resistance.

Seoul’s Second Crematorium — now the Seoul Memorial Park — offers another cautionary tale. In July 1999, city officials floated Gangseo District’s Ogok-dong as a likely site. Local politicians from both parties draped themselves in sashes and vowed to block the project. One lawmaker even distributed leaflets claiming that heat from the cremation furnaces would disrupt aircraft takeoffs and landings — a baseless assertion.

By 2000, the conflict shifted to a battle between the Seoul city government and Seocho District after Wonji-dong was chosen as the site. What followed was a decade of partisan clashes: the then-ruling Democratic Party in City Hall and the central government versus opposition-dominated Seocho, with local lawmakers, the district mayor and city council members waging a prolonged fight. Power changed hands in both City Hall and the Blue House, fueling repeated delays and administrative lawsuits that reached the Supreme Court. The facility was finally completed in 2012, 14 years after the idea first surfaced, and with just 11 furnaces instead of the planned 20.

Other cities saw projects collapse outright. In 2006, a proposed regional crematorium in Hanam with 20 furnaces unraveled within 18 months, derailed by local political strife and Korea’s first-ever recall vote against a mayor. Plans for crematoria in Bucheon in 2010 and Ansan in 2012 — each slated for six furnaces — were canceled after political interference.

Hwaseong’s Hambaksan Memorial Park took a different path. Opposition there was not internal but came from neighboring Suwon, where politicians from both parties faced criticism for exploiting local resistance to expand their political influence. Years were wasted before the facility finally opened in 2021. More recent failures, including the stalled joint crematorium in Pocheon and the on-again, off-again project in Icheon, also bear the shadow of political meddling.

A surge in deaths from influenza and other respiratory infections has pushed crematoriums and funeral halls across Korea to full capacity. The photo shows a monitor displaying the cremation schedule at a crematorium in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 17. [YONHAP]

Looking back over the past 20 years, the pattern is clear. Too many crematorium projects have been abandoned because of partisan maneuvering and local protests, squandering precious time. If even a portion of the original projects had succeeded, the cremation shortages now looming could have been prevented.

Today, Korea’s cremation rate stands at roughly 95 percent. Ensuring that the deceased are cremated promptly and respectfully is a basic public welfare obligation. Rather than obstructing such facilities, politicians should step aside, if not actively support new projects through special legislation. The time for political games is over.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.