Military funeral held for late Goryeong-gun County Chief Lee Nam-cheol

A county-level state funeral was held Thursday morning for the late Goryeong-gun County Chief Lee Nam-cheol at the plaza of the Goryeong-gun County Office, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

National Assembly member Jeong Hui-yong attended the ceremony to pay his respects, joined by Jeong Gwang-ho and Na Yeong-wan, co-chairs of the joint funeral committee, along with committee members, county council representatives, heads of public institutions and civic organizations, government officials and residents — about 1,000 people in all.

Lee entered public service in 1979 in Unsu-myeon, Goryeong-gun, and spent 41 years in key posts including head of the planning and coordination office, chief of the general affairs division, head of Daegaya-eup and director of the administrative welfare bureau.

He was elected county chief in the eighth round of local elections in 2022, championing regional economic development and the globalization of Daegaya cultural heritage. He won re-election in the ninth round on the strength of broad public support, but died from a chronic illness before completing his second term.

After the funeral ceremony, his cortege made a final pass through the Goryeong-gun County Office and the county chief's office — the workplace where he had spent his career — before he was laid to rest at Hapcheon Memorial Park.

A county official said Goryeong-gun had enacted an ordinance governing county-level state funerals, under which such a funeral is the county's official ceremony of honor for a sitting county chief or sitting county council speaker who dies in office, held to reflect the wishes of residents.