Abstract
Life is a journey of being born, growing up, becoming mature and old, falling sick, dying and being farewelled. Asking someone to think about their own death and be prepared is rude and vulgar since all human life is precious. A worthwhile reason for one to think about death is because all humans have a desire to make their life worthwhile. Living a good life is perhaps a prerequisite for a good death. Every religion offers us remedies for what comes after human death. Once a death occurs, how the deceased body is treated, rested and memorialised makes a key ritual and is left to the living.
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Notes
- 1.
조선일보. 2 September 2018. ‘한국인의 마지막 10년, “번호표 뽑는 화장터·현찰 세는 장례식장… 패스트푸드점 같은 한국 장례 풍경 충격” (Last 10 years of Koreans, the crematorium with queue tickets, counting the contribution money at the funeral hall … shocked to see the fastfood shop-like funeral)’, http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/09/02/2014090200387.html. Accessed 7/5/2018.
- 2.
조선일보. 10 June 2009. ‘한국만의 건축: “요람에서 무덤까지” 책임지는 한국 병원 최후의 서비스·최대의 수익 창출 공간 (Korean architect: the Korean hospitals’ last services reflect “from the cradle to the grave” and the sources of the biggest profit)’, http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/09/2009060901975.html. Accessed 8/5/2018.
- 3.
한겨레. 19 October 2018. ‘세월호 ‘마지막 수색’ 했지만…미수습자 5명 흔적 못 찾아 (The last search for the deceased … five remain missing without a trace)’, http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/866601.html#csidx676c2f512f71d1c93bf13dab5d90422. Accessed 18/12/2018.
- 4.
한국소비자원 (Korea Consumer Agency) www.kca.go.kr/.
- 5.
CBS News. 22 December 2015. ‘South Korean “mock funerals” seek to ease life’s stresses’, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-korean-mock-funerals-seek-to-ease-lifes-stresses/. Accessed 10/5/2018.
- 6.
I am indebted to one of the reviewers of the manuscript proposal for this suggestion.
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Han, GS. (2019). Introduction. In: Funeral Rites in Contemporary Korea. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7852-2_1
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