Extension of Crematorium Hours at Municipal Crematorium and Memorial Park by Two Hours
Municipal Crematorium to Replace with 'Smart Cremators' by 2026
Memorial Park to Add Four Cremators... Early Completion Scheduled for July
Seoul City has decided to extend the operating hours of crematoriums within the city to alleviate difficulties faced by citizens in using these facilities. Recently, due to a surge in influenza and pneumonia patients, citizens have been unable to make cremation reservations, resulting in either holding four-day funerals or traveling long distances for cremations, thereby increasing their hardships.
On the 19th, Seoul City announced that it will extend the operating hours of the crematoriums at Seoul Municipal Crematorium and Seoul Memorial Park by two hours. This follows a previous extension of operating hours in January last year, with an additional two-hour extension now planned.
With the two-hour extension of the cremation furnaces, Seoul Municipal Crematorium, which previously closed at 7:30 PM, will now be available until 9:30 PM, and Seoul Memorial Park until 9:00 PM. Seoul City is also operating two maintenance cremators, which are usually not in use, at full capacity. Due to the extended hours and operation of maintenance cremators, Seoul Municipal Crematorium will increase its daily cremations from 121 to 148, and Seoul Memorial Park from 59 to 75.
Seoul City plans to accelerate the introduction of 'smart cremators' that automatically control temperature and pressure to shorten cremation times at Seoul Municipal Crematorium, which still uses older cremators. Once all 23 cremators at the municipal crematorium are replaced with smart cremators, the average daily number of cremations will increase by 18 (from 113 to 131).
Additionally, four cremators are being added to Seoul Memorial Park. To complete the expansion early, Seoul City has adopted a 'fast-track' method that allows design and construction to proceed simultaneously, enabling completion by July, five months ahead of the original schedule. Upon completion, the number of cremators at Seoul Memorial Park will increase from 11 to 15, raising the daily cremation capacity from 59 to 85, an increase of up to 26. Along with the expansion, ancillary facilities such as the bereaved family waiting rooms (from 10 to 14 rooms) and parking lots (from 128 to 178 spaces) are also being expanded.
Seoul City explained that while the initial construction cost per cremator was 22.4 billion KRW when the memorial park was first built, the expansion requires no building construction or land acquisition costs, reducing the cost to 1.8 billion KRW per cremator, achieving a cost reduction effect of more than tenfold. Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Welfare at Seoul City, stated, "As Korea has entered a super-aged society early and during times when infectious diseases are prevalent, crematoriums will continue to be insufficient. We will steadily promote the expansion of cremation facilities so that bereaved families do not have to endure the sorrow of holding four-day funerals or travel long distances to crematoriums to send off their loved ones."
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