Funeral Facilities to Be Allowed in School Zone
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Schools are likely to see funeral facilities in their nearby areas. Currently, funeral facilities are banned from being built nearer than 200 meters from a school.
According to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, crematoriums and charnel houses will be excluded from the prohibition lists for school zones. This move is in line with the government's campaign against people's negative views on funeral facilities.
The government plans to allow setting up funeral facilities in residential and commercial places. Also it is considering making it necessary to build funeral facilities in newly established towns.
``Although there are no grounds that crematoriums and charnel house damage people's health and negatively influence children, we have banned those facilities in residential and school zones. The related regulations should be revised,'' a ministry spokesman said.
Korea is now suffering from a shortage of crematoriums as people shun having the facilities near their home or their children's school. Seoul City planned to build a crematorium in southern Seoul in 2001. But the city government failed to start construction work due to strong opposition from local residents.
Hanam City in Gyeonggi Province is another example of the ``NIMBY (not in my back yard) " phenomenon. The city mayor planned last year to set up a large crematorium in the city to receive compensation worth 200 billion won and build an inter-city subway with the money. But his plan faced severe protests by the city residents.
There were only 47 funeral homes with 211 furnaces across the country as of last year, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Mourners in Seoul and adjacent areas often have to use crematoriums in other regions due to overflowing demand for cremation in the area.