▲ Boram Funeral Service / Daechi branch manager Wonchul

Approximately 3 million people are insured for funeral services in Korea. It is 10% of the whole population which means that people still do not see its need despite it was first introduced about 30 years ago. There are some factors to this: increased number of single family, a sense of empty formalities and vanity, and the cost. Yet increasing number of elderly people in our society seems to require the services anyway. The point is how the services meet their client’s needs and wants.  

Funeral service is an area that requires professionalism 
“The government revised the law that the all registered funeral service providers must have more than US$1.3 million capitals. Some of the poor providers pulled cheap tricks to meet the standard and this raised public distrust in the industry as a whole and they were eventually filtered out. As a result, around 400 provides in 2010 were reduced to around 160 and the soon-to-register must obtain a license from both the Fair Trade Commission and the local government” explains Wonchul, the Boram Funeral Service Daechi branch manager. 

The main reason that people hesitate to buy funeral insurance, however, might come from their repulsion towards the word ‘death’, points out Wonchul. “Funeral service is an area that requires professionalism and the business is under the strict watch of the Fair Trade Commission. It requires a funeral service planner to give professional consultation and a group of funeral specialists to operate the whole funeral process.”

Attention to detail
Wonchul recommends you to check on the follow things when choosing a service: history, number of the insured, number of services, cash reserve ratio and debt ratio. A good service provider, for example, has higher cash reserve ratio than the standard or lower debt ratio than the standard. “Funeral insurance is a preparation or investment for you and your family member’s next 10 to 20 years. The reason people buy insurance is that most people do not normally have huge sums of money in their bank account to pay whenever the unexpected happens. Sending someone in grace and decency is as beautiful as someone to be born. Boram Funeral Service Daechi branch will keep doing the very best to meet the needs and wants of our clients new and old alike with professionalism and excellent customer services.”