The studies on the changes in the awareness on death caused by aging and low birth-rate have been conducted in various aspects. However, not so many of the preceding studies examine the topic of dying and funerals. Therefore, in this study, the author attempted to examine the situations around the death of the members of the rapidly changing South Korea society, such as the dying, funeral process, views on the life after death, spiritual welfare, and readiness for death, through a survey, to identify the possible options we can take as we proceed into an aged society and induce a more developed awareness on death.

The study was focused on dying and funeral processes to examine the changes in the views on death caused by aging and low birth-rate. This study was conducted using a quantitative method which surveyed the actual awareness of the respondents, who were composed of 302 ordinary citizens. 

According to the study, 92.4% of the respondents answered they would not receive the life support treatment, while the place of dying was the hospital in 71.5% of the cases. And, 68.5 of the respondents answered that they would decide the modes of their funeral processes for themselves. The analysis of the multiple replies given by the respondents who conducted a funeral within the past five years showed that 41.2% of them conducted the funeral at a charnel house while 14.1% answered they did so in the nature. 

Further survey on the funeral process showed that 50.3% of the respondents answered they preferred the remains of the dead to be buried under or around trees, flowers, grass, while 57.9% also approved placing the remains after cremation in a charnel house. 34.8% answered that scattering the remains in the open would be more preferable. If the scattering of the ash in the open is developed into a more effective method accompanied by more promotion, it is believed to be able to contribute to the resolution of the issue of the significant amount of land being occupied by graves. 

As for the necessity for the education on the preparation for death, 38.1% answered they never thought about it, while 34.4 % agreed that such an education would be necessary. 97.7% of the respondents answered they never had any death preparation education. When asked with whom they talked about their death, 28.1% pointed to their family, while 26.2% answered their spouse. That is, according to the survey, it could be said that the awareness on death is limited to the family or individuals, rather than the society. 

The results of the analysis on the views on life after death, preparation for death, and spiritual well-being are as follows; The analysis on the correlation between the demographic factors of the respondents, such as their gender, age, monthly income, quality of life, and factors like the place of dying, mode of funeral, views on death, views on life after death, preparation for death, and spiritual well-being, showed that the women preferred hospital over their home as their place of dying more than the men did. Also, the women were found to be at a higher state of spiritual well-being compared to the men, as well. As the age increased, they were more correlated with the charnel houses as their mode of funeral, while an older age was also correlated with the views on death. The researcher examined if there was any difference in terms of the views on life after death, preparation for death, and spiritual well-being depending on the gender, age, monthly income, and quality of life. The analysis showed that the gender, age, and quality of life made a statistically significant difference. As for the gender, the women had a higher average value for the views on the life after death, preparation for death, and spiritual well-being. The age was correlated only to the spiritual well-being in a statistically significant manner. 

Such a finding highlights the defect of the social system, which make them choose suicide as they believed their issues were for themselves, rather than a problem of the society in general, accompanied by economic hardship. In order to live a richer life in a healthy society, we need to enhance the awareness on death and education on this issue smoothly, through a window (for consultation) for the society to be involved. It would be necessary to have more windows to monitor, pay attention to, and provide consultation to the marginalized neighbors of ours through the local governments, etc.

Keywords: Aging, low-birth rate, views on death, dying, funeral

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