Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Correctional authorities cremate virus victim without notifying family
A staff member wearing protective gear stands in front of a vehicle at Seoul Dongbu Detention Center in Songpa District, Seoul, Tuesday, when a sixth mass round of COVID-19 testing was conducted among correctional officers and detainees. / Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
By Lee Hyo-jin
Prison authorities, who have already been criticized for lax management resulting in mass COVID-19 infections at a prison, are under fire again as they allegedly cremated the body of an inmate who died as a result of infection by the coronavirus without notifying his immediate next of kin, according to the deceased's family, Tuesday.
The Seoul Dongbu Detention Center, currently struggling with massive infection outbreak, had recently reported the first death of an inmate, Yoon Chang-yeol, 66, who had been serving out a four-and-a-half year jail sentence for fraud since 2018.
According to the center, the inmate tested positive with the virus Dec. 23. After a court ordered medical parole, he was transferred to a hospital for treatment the next day, but died Dec. 27. He reportedly had an underlying disease, and had been receiving hemodialysis treatment prior to contracting the virus.
Yoon's family claimed that until his death, they had neither been informed about the infection, the medical parole hearing, nor the fact that he had been transferred to a hospital.
According to an interview with local media Tuesday, a relative stated that she had received a phone call from an unknown number Dec. 27, which turned out to be the health authorities. They told her of Yoon's death saying they were currently at a cremation center.
Startled by the news, she insisted on going to the crematorium, but the authorities told her to come for a burial service the next day as it was “already too late.” She added that they buried Yoon at a woodland burial site at Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, without the family's consent.
Yoon's family are reportedly preparing a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice.
Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) strongly condemned the ministry for “inhumane” behavior, demanding it take responsibility for the poor quarantine responses at the state-run prison.
“The ministry must immediately give official clarification about the inmate's death and cremation,” he wrote on Facebook. He stated that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's preoccupation with her feud with Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, caused the “inhumane crime.”
He insisted on the need for a National Assembly investigation into the massive infection outbreak at the detention center.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, as of Tuesday, the detention center has reported 1,091 accumulated infection cases, emerging as one of the largest infection clusters.
It was also found that the ministry cited “preventing COVID-19 infection at correctional facilities” as one of its achievements in 2020 in a promotional video posted on its official YouTube channel, Dec. 31. That was the day when Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-ku made a public apology for the outbreak at the detention center.