This study investigates the relationship between daily mortality and heat stress in Seoul, using perceived temperatures (PT) derived from a heat budget model. During the summer season, observed PT intensity showed the biggest magnitude of summer heat stress from the middle 10 days of July to the first 10 days of August. The elderly (65 and above) were found to be the most vulnerable to heat stress. The threshold PT, with a significant increase in excess mortality, was $38^{circ}C$. No time lagged effect was observed with summer heat stress, while a high correlation was observed between anomalies in PT and relative deviation of mortality. A comparison of the heat index and the discomfort index with excess mortality revealed that the discomfort index underestimated excess mortality, whereas the heat index could not appropriately explain the increase in excess mortality correlated with the increase in excess heat. In contrast, PT was found to be the weather element that best represents excess mortality due to heat stress, and is thus expected to serve as a more reliable forecast index of human biometeorology.