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As South Korea transitions into a super-aged society and the culture of “well-dying” emerges as a prominent public concern, the nonprofit Well-Dying Culture Movement has appointed a communications professional with experience in both the public and private sectors as its new executive director.
The Well-Dying Culture Movement announced on the 28th that it has named Lee Ji-yoon, the former chairperson of the Seoul Facilities Corporation, as its new executive director. The organization said the appointment is intended to strengthen efforts to expand well-dying awareness and to build institutional foundations amid rapid population aging and shifting family structures.
During roughly 30 years at the global communications firm FleishmanHillard Korea, Lee held senior roles including vice president and head of stakeholder relations. She advised on corporate brand strategy, external partnerships, and crisis communications, and led marketing and reputation-building initiatives for a wide range of companies.
She later moved into the public sector as chairperson of the Seoul Facilities Corporation. Appointed the first female CEO of a Seoul city-owned enterprise, she worked to improve the corporation’s financial performance and oversaw operations at key municipal facilities such as the World Cup Stadium, Gocheok Sky Dome, and Cheonggyecheon. She is also credited with advancing citizen-centered policy by leading the rollout of the city’s public bike service, Ddareungi.
Lee has said that managing facilities such as Seoul Memorial Park and natural burial grounds during her tenure at the Seoul Facilities Corporation sparked her interest in death and funeral culture. To deepen her expertise in the field, she later obtained a nationally certified funeral director license.
She argued that South Korea’s exceptionally rapid move into a super-aged society means that issues surrounding death can no longer be treated solely as private or family matters but must be addressed as social and policy challenges. She pledged to work toward normalizing a culture in which individuals can prepare for and make autonomous decisions about their own end-of-life care and arrangements.
The Well-Dying Culture Movement said it will use Lee’s appointment to strengthen cooperation across government, the National Assembly, academia, the funeral industry, and civil society. The group also plans to explore how well-dying issues intersect with corporate priorities such as ESG management and to seek policy and practical solutions accordingly.
Founded in 2018, the Well-Dying Culture Movement promotes a graceful end to life as its core value and continues to advance well-dying awareness. The organization has run campaigns on will drafting, life records, legacy giving, promoting advance care planning for decisions about life-sustaining treatment, and improving understanding of adult guardianship. It has focused on establishing new funeral and care practices in response to population aging, the rise of single-person households, and changing family forms.
Lee graduated from Sogang University in 1988 with a degree in French language and literature. She completed PR coursework at Emerson College and a national policy program at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration, and holds an MBA in Global Management from CHA University. She currently serves as an outside director at Pulmuone and as an adviser to FleishmanHillard, and previously served as an outside director at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
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