How Youths Are Choosing Death As Profession In This Ageing And Lonely Nation: Here's What You Need To Know

As South Korea grapples with a rapidly ageing population and one of the lowest birth rates in the world, a new generation is finding opportunity in a growing, yet somber line of work, the death care industry. From university classrooms in Busan to quiet apartments in Seoul, young South Koreans are learning to manage funerals and clean up the homes of those who die alone.

At the Busan Institute of Science and Technology, students are trained in the rituals of farewell, wrapping mannequins in white shrouds and placing them into coffins as part of their coursework. “With our society ageing, I thought the demand for this kind of work would only grow,” Jang Jin-yeong, 27, a student of funeral administration said to AFP.

Another student, Im Sae-jin, 23, said he joined the program after his grandmother’s death. “At her funeral, I saw how beautifully the directors had prepared her for the final farewell,” he recalled. “I felt deeply grateful.”

Rise Of Single-Person Households And ‘Lonely Deaths’

Nearly 42 per cent of South Korean households now consist of a single person, the highest proportion in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. This trend has given rise to a grim but necessary profession, cleaners who handle homes where occupants die alone, often unnoticed for days or even months.

Cho Eun-seok, 47, once a classical musician, now works as one of these cleaners. He describes the apartments he enters as “like their portraits” — untouched rooms filled with unopened gifts, empty bottles, and silent reminders of solitude. “Sometimes, you can see their entire life in what they left behind,” he said.

South Korea also records the highest suicide rate among developed nations, and many of these deaths occur in isolation. Cho now receives requests from car leasing firms to clean vehicles where clients ended their lives. He is developing a sensor system to detect unattended deaths early, preventing health hazards and pest infestations.

Profession Of Fear And Compassion

The work can be emotionally heavy. Cleaner Kim Seok-jung once discovered a late lyricist’s unpublished songs while clearing her home and later shared them with her family. Cho remembers a teenage girl living alone in a small gosiwon after fleeing domestic violence. When she took her life, Cho found her pet hamster — still alive — inside a box she had once asked him not to throw away. “All I could think was that I had to save it,” he said softly.

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Veteran funeral director Kim Doo-nyeon says more young people are joining the field every year. “When people live together, they leave traces,” he said. “But when someone dies alone, everything must be cleared away.”

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For many, working in death care comes with unease. Back in Busan, Im admits to a quiet fear of the profession he has chosen. “No matter how much you prepare, facing a dead person is frightening,” he said. But for many like him, helping others find dignity in death, and comfort in grief, has become both a calling and a career.