Hello, I am Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at The Korea Times. I primarily cover financial authorities and write articles on a wide range of topics related to finance and capital markets. If you have any information to share, feel free to email me at jjh@koreatimes.co.kr, and I will review it carefully. I am committed to always doing my best to communicate with readers through high-quality articles.
Pandemic brings radical changes to weddings and funerals
By Jun Ji-hye
The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, which broke out in late December 2019 and has now engulfed the world, portends to reshape our lives, and the world order as we know it. This is the eleventh in a series of articles to cast light on the changes that might lie ahead. ― ED.
By Jun Ji-hye
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the holding of weddings, funerals and religious events among other activities.
Since the virus has made it difficult to hold wedding ceremonies where many people gather, celebrate and eat together, couples have had to explore other options such as live-streaming the ceremony or drastically reducing the guest list
One couple, for example, held their wedding in early April at a wedding hall in Seoul and live-streamed it on YouTube. They decided to do so since most of their relatives lived in Daegu, the city hit hardest by the virus here.
KT, one of the country's leading telecoms companies, offered technical assistance to live-stream the event, which enabled friends and acquaintances to remotely send their congratulations online in real time.
“I had many worries about the wedding ceremony as my family and relatives live in Daegu and they were advised not to visit other regions due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19,” said the bride, surnamed Park. “I was thinking about canceling the ceremony, but the cancellation charge for the wedding hall was too expensive. In the end, my husband and I were able to hold the happy ceremony via live-streaming.”
Some couples decided to cancel their honeymoon and donate the money they would have spent on traveling to the less fortunate.
One couple, who live in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, got married in late April, with only a few close relatives, including their parents, in attendance.
“Instead of taking a honeymoon due to concerns about travel restrictions, we decided to donate 30 million won ($25,000), which we had saved for the wedding banquet and honeymoon, to low-income families who are facing a lot more difficulties following the COVID-19 outbreak,” said the 34-year-old groom, Gil Jeong-min.
After actor So Ji-sub married Cho Eun-jung, a former television announcer, at a small private ceremony in early April, the couple donated 50 million won to the local charity Good Neighbors to “help people fight through this difficult time,” according to So's agency, 51k. The money was used to provide tablet computers and smart devices to help underprivileged children with online learning.
Funerals have also changed during the pandemic. More people are choosing small family funerals instead of holding large traditional ceremonies where as many people as possible gather together to remember the deceased.
Some hospitals, such as the Severance Hospital in Seoul, that operate funeral halls now offer online condolence pages that allow mourners to remotely pay their respects to the deceased, while giving them the opportunity to pay condolence money through automatic bank transfers.
The number of people attending weddings and funerals has fallen sharply, according to survey of around 600 people by job search site Incruit. The respondents said they attended weddings or funerals 0.7 times a month on average and spent 89,000 won in congratulatory or condolences payments during the pandemic. This compares with the 1.9 and 169,000 won recorded before the pandemic.
Small weddings and funerals are likely to continue for the time being since the health authorities are advising people to avoid large gatherings. To discourage holding wedding banquets, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said couples should offer presents instead. One official said that if there are guests attending the wedding, “couples should exchange nods with them instead of shaking hands.”
As for funerals, families of the deceased are advised to limit the number of attendees.
Similar guidelines have been issues for religious gatherings, with an emphasis given to online services.
If religious groups do hold physical gatherings, they should not offer group meals and discourage participants from singing or praying out loud since this causes a larger dispersal of potentially virus-carrying moisture droplets into the air.