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| Former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil, left, offers condolences to Kim Hyun-chul, the son of former President Kim Young-sam, at the former president's memorial altar set up at Seoul National University Hospital in central Seoul, Sunday. / Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
The government will hold a state funeral service for the late former President Kim Young-sam at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday, a government committee said Sunday.
The ad hoc committee, comprised of officials, also declared an official five-day mourning period and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast.
The committee agreed on the funeral procedure with the bereaved family and reviewed this at a Cabinet meeting in the afternoon, with President Park Geun-hye approving it.
A memorial altar was set up at Seoul National University Hospital, where Kim died early Sunday. After the funeral ceremony at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Kim will be buried in Seoul National Cemetery.
Memorial altars have also been set up across the country -- including one at the National Assembly -- where citizens can visit to pay their respects.
Korean embassies abroad will also open for visitors to pay their condolences. The local government of Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province, Kim's birthplace, opened memorial altars at its office and on Geoje Island.
"Along with other committee members, I offer my greatest condolences to the families of former President Kim," Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who heads the committee, said at a press briefing.
"The former President is remembered for his fight for democracy in Korea. While serving as the nation's 14th president, Kim also contributed a lot to the nation's development, such as making the financial system more transparent, disassembling a military group faction and requiring high-profile public servants to reveal their wealth. The committee is here to help people pay their respects to him."
A state funeral is offered to people who have made notable contributions to the country. Under the State Funeral Law, incumbent and former presidents are entitled to this.
In principle, the government covers the cost of the funeral, except for expenses for food for mourners and for after-funeral ceremonies usually held 49 days after the death.
Not all former presidents had a state funeral. The family of former President Yoon Bo-seon, who served between August 1960 and March 1962, chose a private funeral. So did the family of Syngman Rhee, Korea's first president, from 1948-1960.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun had a people's funeral, which had a shorter mourning period and smaller government coverage of expenses.
The five-day mourning period for Kim is shorter than those held for other presidents. For Kim Dae-jung, who died in 2009, the mourning period was six days. Former President Park Chung-hee, assassinated in 1979, had a nine-day mourning period.
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