Home > National > Social Affairs

Altar for former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan to be set up at Seoul National University Hospital

Published: 26 Jan. 2026, 13:59 Updated: 26 Jan. 2026, 18:08

Former Prime Minister speaks at a lecture at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on May 27, 2024. [NEWS1]

An altar for the late Lee Hae-chan, senior vice chairperson of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC), will be set up at Seoul National University Hospital’s funeral home.

Lee’s body is scheduled to depart Vietnam on a Korean Air flight on Monday night and arrive at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday morning, before being transported to the funeral home at Seoul National University Hospital, according to the PUAC on Sunday. His body is currently being temporarily kept at a military hospital in Vietnam.

The funeral for the late former Prime Minister Lee is expected to be held as a five-day social funeral starting Jan. 27, officials said.

An official from the ruling bloc said the organizers are reviewing a hybrid format that would combine a social funeral with an institutional funeral hosted by PUAC. A state funeral — initially floated as a possibility — has reportedly been taken off the table after objections from various quarters.

In the meantime, the National Assembly has been canceling a string of scheduled events during the mourning period. The liberal Democratic Party (DP) said it will focus on paying respects except for essential party business.

The DP’s caucus of first-term lawmakers, known as "The Mincho," postponed a forum that had been planned to discuss a possible merger with the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, while other events were also postponed or scrapped.

National Assembly-related schedules have also been scaled back. Speaker Woo Won-shik postponed a New Year’s press conference that had been set for Tuesday. The Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee also put off a plenary meeting that had been scheduled for Monday, and plans to hold it on Wednesday instead.

Lee Hae-chan in 2025 [NEWS1]

Lee, who served as prime minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, visited Ho Chi Minh City last Thursday to attend an executive committee meeting of the PUAC’s Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly. He began arranging an emergency return to Korea after feeling unwell on Friday, but suffered breathing difficulties at an airport in Vietnam and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

After suffering a heart attack, Lee underwent procedures including a stent insertion but did not regain consciousness.

Update, Jan. 26: Story updated to include funeral arrangements

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]