The funeral of Lee Hae-chan, senior vice chair of The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC) and former prime minister, who died while on a business trip in Vietnam, will be solemnly held as an institutional and social funeral for five days from the 27th to the 31st.
The Democratic Party of Korea, which is jointly organizing the funeral with the PUAC, plans to send off the senior vice chair with the utmost respect.
A social funeral is a format in which, when a person who contributed to the nation or society dies, related organizations and various sectors of society take the lead in forming a funeral committee and holding the ceremony. The funerals of Kim Geun-tae, standing adviser to the Democratic United Party who led the democratization movement during the military dictatorship era, and Lee Hee-ho, spouse of President Kim Dae-jung and who played the role of the Democratic Party's "DAEMO Engineering," were also solemnly conducted as social funerals in 2011 and 2019, respectively.
The standing funeral committee chair for Lee Hae-chan's social funeral will be Prime Minister Kim Min-seok. The standing co-chairs from civil society and political parties will be Baek Nak-cheong, emeritus professor at Seoul National University, and Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party.
The standing executive chair will be Cho Jung-sik, presidential senior political adviser, and the co-executive chairs will be Cho Seung-rae, secretary-general of the Democratic Party, Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Interior and Safety, and Bang Yong-seung, secretary-general of the PUAC. Other members of the funeral committee will be decided in consultation among the bereaved family, the government, political parties, and social organizations.
Lee's body arrived at Incheon Airport early on the 27th. The deceased will be moved to Seoul National University Hospital, where the mourning altar has been set up. Condolences will be accepted from 12 p.m. that day.