The Silence of Room 5 With No Visitors... 'Even Family Refused'?He Passed As If He Never Existed [2025 Unclaimed Deaths Report ④]

Reportage on the Public Funeral of Unclaimed Deceased Kwon
Found Alone in Apartment... Family Refuses to Claim Remains
From Cremation to Scattering of Ashes... The Final Farewell

On the morning of the 5th of last month, the funeral hall at Wonju Medical Center in Gangwon Province was bustling with bereaved family members and visitors. However, room 5, the smallest mourning room, had a distinctly different atmosphere. Here, the memorial altar for the late Mr. Kwon was set up without even a portrait photo. No mourners came to pay their respects. Even the lights in the restaurant next to the room were turned off.

After lighting the first incense in the empty ceremonial burner, I paid my respects to Mr. Kwon. I waited for 30 minutes, sitting on a chair in front of the altar, until three members of a local volunteer group arrived to pay their respects. Kim Donghee, head of the Bonjour Wonju Volunteer Group, said, "Whenever someone dies without family or passes away alone in Wonju or even in Gyeonggi Province, we visit public funerals to pay our respects, go to the deceased's home to organize their belongings, and carry out other volunteer activities."

On the morning of the 5th of last month, the funeral parlor room 5 at Wonju Medical Center in Wonju, Gangwon Province, was set up as the mourning place for Mr. Kwon. Photo by Choi Youngchan

After the volunteers finished paying their respects and left, silence returned to room 5. Aside from deliveries of rice cakes or condolence wreaths to other rooms, not a single person passed by the front of the altar. At public funerals for unclaimed deceased persons in Wonju, religious organizations usually conduct funeral ceremonies, but due to busy year-end schedules, even this was not possible.

Mr. Kwon was discovered deceased in an apartment in Wonju on September 18, after a neighbor reported a foul odor. Given that there had been no water usage since the 2nd of that month, it is estimated that he was found 16 days after his death. However, there were no family members to collect his body and hold a funeral. The police handed over Mr. Kwon's body to the city of Wonju, and as an unclaimed deceased person, he received a public funeral.

On the 6th of last month, Jang Jangsoo (59), the director of the funeral service company, and a funeral hall official briefly held a moment of silence before transferring the unclaimed deceased Kwon to the crematorium. Photo by Seungwook Park

It was not that Mr. Kwon had no family at all. The police and city officials of Wonju contacted his relatives several times, but they either refused or avoided taking custody of his body. Mr. Kwon had lived alone with a severe intellectual disability. He was a recipient of basic livelihood support. The altar was kept for a day so that acquaintances or family could visit, but no one came.

When I returned to the funeral hall at around 10:30 a.m. the next day, the hearse carrying the deceased was ready to depart for the crematorium. After a brief moment of silence, funeral hall staff and Jang Jangsoo (59), director of the funeral service company who drove the hearse, headed to Wonju Memorial Park. Upon arrival, Mr. Jang took care of the paperwork for the cremation. He pulled the autopsy report out of his pocket and personally filled out the consent form for information collection and the Yutaek Hill notification form at the reception desk.

On the 6th of last month, the ashes of Kwon, a person who died without family, were scattered at Yutaek Hill. Photo by Seungwook Park

Afterward, Mr. Jang and I transported the deceased. "Usually, the bereaved family accompanies the transport, but in cases like Mr. Kwon's, where there are no family members, I have no choice but to do it together with the crematorium staff," Mr. Jang said. After completing the transport, Mr. Jang left, and the cremation took about two hours.

The waiting room for the bereaved, prepared by the crematorium, was empty with its door open. When the cremation was complete, a staff member at the memorial park, wearing gloves, took Mr. Kwon's urn and headed to Yutaek Hill. The staff member quietly scattered the ashes, and the empty urn and hanji paper were placed together in one spot. In this way, Mr. Kwon departed quietly and alone.