SEOUL, South Korea -- Last month at the annual meeting of Chunchon diocesan priests, 45 priests promised to donate their internal organs and 18 others pledged to donate their bodies for research after death. It is part of a church initiative in South Korea to encourage organ donations. Many Koreans, influenced by Confucian tradition, regard their bodies as gifts from their parents and believe upon death bodies should be buried intact.
Rosa Park Soo-jeong, 36, manager of the Organ ...