Lone-Death in South Korea: Narratives from Police Reports

In this talk, I focus on exploring the patterns of a type of death: Solitary Death, referred as ‘Lonely Death’ or ‘Dying Alone’ in South Korea. Each country has cultural scripts of the good death. However, regardless of the cultural scripts, dying alone is not perceived as a ‘good death’ and largely unfavored way of death as it indicates a high level of isolation and marginalization in the community. This pattern of lonely death is closely associated with the recent demographic changes in South Korea, the rapid transition to a highly aged society, living alone, delayed family formation, increased marital dissolution, and family disruptions, increasing the risks of extreme levels of social isolation. Despite the increasing trends in solitary death, there were very limited sources of data lack of consistency and reliability, leaving the area of study unexplored up to date except for the areas of projects focusing on the perception based on small survey data. I utilize a restricted source of police report data from 2013 containing all 11,002 cases of ‘unnatural’ deaths, not by homicide, natural, or clear causes of death. Based on this unique data, I explore diverse patterns of solitary deaths in South Korea – differentials of the location, who found the body first, body decomposition condition, labor force participation, and health issues reported in the police report data. In addition, by connecting the data to the community-level statistics (county-level data), I also investigate regional differentials of the solitary death rates in South Korea.  

Jaein Lee is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Arkansas State University and an external Faculty Affiliate at the Maryland Population Research Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research explores vital questions on the contexts of individual and social factors shaping inequalities in various demographic outcomes, primarily inequalities in mortality and health behaviors. His recent research projects explore 1) how the women’s life course (work and family) trajectories impact their mental health conditions, and 2) the level of acceptance toward suicide, homosexuality, and the death penalty by trust to others, religion, and gender. Dr. Lee earned a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and before joining Arkansas State University, he worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Gettysburg College.