Honor Ancestors 'Remotely'... Busan Municipal Ossuary Facility 'Closed for Chuseok'

Busan City Encourages Online Memorial Flower Offering Service During Chuseok Holiday
Yeongnak Park and Memorial Park Public Burial Facilities Fully Closed

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] COVID-19 has even blocked the path to 'visiting ancestors.' The public enshrinement facilities at Yeongnak Park and Memorial Park in Busan will be completely closed during this Chuseok holiday period.

Busan City announced on the 19th that from September 30 to October 4, during the five-day Chuseok holiday, the city-run columbarium areas at Yeongnak Park and the public enshrinement facilities at Memorial Park, including the enshrinement halls, graves, enshrinement tombs, and enshrinement walls, will be temporarily closed.

Considering that about 180,000 deceased are enshrined at Yeongnak Park and Memorial Park and that approximately 360,000 visitors come during the holiday period, Busan City decided to temporarily close the facilities to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Instead, from September 26 to October 11, excluding the Chuseok holiday, an 11-day temporary 'one-day total enshrinement visitor pre-reservation system' will be implemented. Operating hours will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The daily visitor limit under the pre-reservation system is set at ▲1,300 for Yeongnak Park and ▲2,900 for Memorial Park.

During visits to the enshrinement halls, the ritual rooms and family rest areas will be closed. Additionally, bringing ritual food and consuming food indoors will be strictly prohibited.

Pre-reservations can be made starting from the 18th on the Busan Facilities Corporation Busan Yeongnak Park website and the Bunsan Memorial Park website, and visits to the enshrinement halls will only be possible through online pre-reservation.

Busan City will also operate an online non-face-to-face memorial and grave visit service starting September 25. This service is linked with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s e-Haneul Funeral Information System’s online memorial and grave visit service. Visitors can access the Busan Facilities Corporation Busan Yeongnak Park website and Busan Memorial Park website to perform online flower offerings and write memorial messages.

Byun Sung-wan, Acting Mayor of Busan, said, “Although Chuseok is the nation’s greatest holiday to be spent with family, we made the difficult decision to close the facilities considering the serious situation of COVID-19.”