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Former S. Korean president Roh dies after jumping off cliff
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun died in an apparent suicide after jumping off a cliff while hiking near Bongha Village in the south of the country on early Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported.
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun died in an apparent suicide after jumping off a cliff while hiking near Bongha Village in the south of the country on early Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported.
Roh, 62, was recently in the center of a bribery scandal that could have spoiled his image of a 'clean politician.' The scandal has already seen a number of his relatives and confidants sent to prison.
The news agency said that police investigators later found a suicide note at the former president's house in Bongha Village in which he confessed of causing pain to everyone and asked to be cremated after his death.
"The pain that I caused to so many people are too great. The pain in the coming days is unfathomable... Don't be sorry. Don't blame anyone. It's fate," the agency quoted the suicide note as saying.
Roh, who was the president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008, was under an investigation on charges of taking bribes. He was accused of receiving $6 million from a businessman and then distributing the money among his relatives.
Yonhap reported that Roh's funeral will take place in Bongha Village, some 450 km (280 miles) to the south of Seoul, where he lived since his retirement in February of 2008.
Despair Overwhelms a Former Leader
SEOUL, South Korea — Before dawn on Saturday, former President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea switched on his computer and typed a suicide note — his last comment on a corruption scandal that has threatened to undo his proudest, and last remaining, legacy: his record as an upstanding political leader.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his wife Kwon Yang-sook voting at a polling station in Seoul in December 2007.
“Don’t be too sad,” Mr. Roh said in a note meant for his wife and two children. “Life and death are all parts of nature. Don’t be sorry. Don’t blame anyone. Accept it as fate.”
An hour and a half later, as the sun rose through a cloudy sky, Mr. Roh, 62, climbed a hill overlooking his native village of Bongha, on the south coast, accompanied by a bodyguard. He then jumped off a cliff.
In his last months, Mr. Roh had seen his personal achievements clouded by accusations of corruption and many of his political accomplishments undone.
Mr. Roh, who was president from 2003 to 2008, devoted much of that time — and abundant foreign aid — to nurturing warmer relations with North Korea. But after South Koreans grew frustrated with what they felt was a lack of significant progress with the North, they turned to a conservative leader, Lee Myung-bak, who promised to take a tougher stance toward North Korea.
Since Mr. Lee’s election, the North has lashed out, most recently launching a long-range rocket despite objections from the West and threatening to close one of the clearest symbols of North-South progress: the industrial complex in Kaesong where South Korean companies employ North Korean workers.
Those who were close to Mr. Roh said the charges of corruption, which his allies say were politically motivated, were especially painful since he had made his name as a “clean” politician in a country where every former president since the 1980s has either faced corruption accusations or gone to jail on such charges after his term was over.
In recent weeks, he acknowledged that a businessman who supported him had given more than $6 million to his wife and son and his brother’s son-in-law while he was in office, but he denied that they were bribes. He said that he did not know about the transactions until he left office and that the money for his wife was used to pay a debt.
The news of Mr. Roh’s death came as a shock to the nation, which, unlike Japan, does not have a strong history of political and other leaders committing suicide to take responsibility for real or alleged offenses.
On Saturday, villagers from Bongha lined up along a road, crying, as Mr. Roh’s coffin passed by. By evening, hundreds of mourners and supporters had converged in downtown Seoul, laying long-stemmed white chrysanthemums at a makeshift altar.
A self-educated lawyer, Mr. Roh first made his mark by defending student and labor activists who opposed military dictators and their cronies in industry. He began to gain prominence in the late 1980s when, as a neophyte national lawmaker, he threw his parliamentary nameplate at a military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, and publicly berated corrupt but powerful business tycoons, including Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai conglomerate and a mentor of Mr. Lee, a former Hyundai executive.
“More than any politician, Mr. Roh challenged the establishment and taboos in South Korea, such as when he declared, ‘What’s wrong with being anti-American?’ ” said Kang Won-taek, a political scientist at Soongsil University in Seoul.
But Mr. Roh was also divisive. During his five-year term as president, his efforts to free South Korea from its traditional dependence on Washington in its diplomacy unsettled many people, as did his policy of funneling billions of dollars of unconditional aid to North Korea.
His combative rhetoric and distaste for compromise led to endless bickering with his conservative critics.
“There was not a single quiet day while he was in office,” said Choi Jin, the director of the Institute of Presidential Leadership. “Throughout his life, he always made extreme choices, playing an all-or-nothing game. His suicide was the last explosion in his fiery and volcanic career.”
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“It must have been unbearably difficult for him to see his reputation tarnished by the excessive probe by prosecutors and to see his entire legacy disparaged in the media,” said Kim Jong-sup, a former presidential spokesman.
Mr. Roh once said his biggest achievement was his 2002 election victory, said Oh Young-jin, a former spokesman. In the country’s modern history, marred by dictatorships, corruption and “boss politics,” Mr. Roh was the first to win a national election without a regional support base, a political faction or strong ties with conglomerates.
He swept into power on the crest of nationalistic — and sometimes anti-American — sentiments among young voters. During his campaign, he declared that he would be the “first South Korean leader not to kowtow to the Americans.” But he also came under fire from many of his former supporters, like labor unions, when he signed a free-trade agreement with Washington.
Mr. Roh’s leadership style earned him supporters and vociferous critics. His nationalistic and down-to-earth style (he sprinkled his comments with slang) thrilled young and liberal voters. He tried to break collusive ties between politics and big businesses and tried to curtail the power of big and conservative newspapers.
Older and conservative voters detested him as a maverick, with many people accusing him of being coarse, amateurish and a threat to the alliance with the United States.
Born into a family too poor to send him to college, Mr. Roh educated himself and passed the bar exam without having attended law school. In a society where a social status is often determined by a college diploma, his success was admired when he was popular but ridiculed when he was accused of bungling the economy in his later years in office.
Even in retirement, Mr. Roh has had both supporters and detractors galore. Each day, busloads of supporters and tourists have visited his retirement village, turning him into something South Korea has never seen before: a former president as tourist attraction.
The accusations of corruption involving his family began to surface soon after Mr. Roh left office; under Korean law, he could not run for a second term.
Mr. Roh had shown a knack for overturning a political crisis, as he did when he became the first South Korean president to be impeached in 2004 on accusations of violating election laws, and survived. But this time “he saw no way out,” Mr. Kang said.
In his last posting on his Web site, on April 22, Mr. Roh said he could “no longer symbolize the values” he once championed and told his supporters to “discard” him. On April 30, he was forced to travel to Seoul to face the prosecutors’ questions while the news media put camera crews in helicopters to broadcast the motorcade’s trip. Such treatment, while expected in the United States, is unusual in South Korea and was considered a staggering humiliation in a country that values saving face.
Fallece en un presumible suicidio Roh Moo Hyun, ex presidente sudcoreano
Acusado de corrupción, fue hallado aún vivo al pie de una montaña tras, al parecer, haberse lanzado.
DPA
Publicado: 23/05/2009 14:00
Seúl. El ex presidente de Corea del Sur Roh Moo Hyun, sospechoso de participar en una trama de corrupción, murió este sábado supuestamente por suicidio, informó la policía.
Roh, de 62 años de edad, fue hallado aún vivo al pie de una montaña cerca de su residencia en el sureste del país tras lanzarse por un barranco de 30 metros de altura durante un paseo matinal, declaró en televisión Moon Jae In, ex jefe del Estado Mayor durante el mandato de Roh.
Según la policía, ingresó en un hospital con graves heridas y murió más tarde. El hospital universitario Pusan National confirmó que Roh falleció a las 9:30 de la mañana (00:30 GTM) a causa de una herida externa en la cabeza.
El guardaespaldas que acompañó a Roh en su paseo aseguró a la policía, de acuerdo con los medios, que todo sucedió "demasiado rápido" para impedir que el ex presidente saltara. La policía ha puesto en marcha una investigación que aclarar las circunstancias exactas de su muerte.
El difunto dejó una aparente nota de despedida en su ordenador antes de salir de casa, en la que aludía a su sufrimiento y pedía ser incinerado.
"El dolor que causé a tantas personas es demasiado grande. El dolor de los días venideros inconmensurable", reza la nota de Roh.
"No os lamentéis. No culpéis a nadie". "La vida y la muerte pertenecen como partes idénticas a la naturaleza. Es el destino", continúa.
El presidente Lee Myung Bak expresó "su profundo pesar" por la repentina muerte de Roh, según comunicó el portavoz de la oficina presidencial, quien añadió que Lee y su equipo están "absolutamente conmocionados" y sorprendidos por la noticia.
"Es realmente duro creer lo que ocurrió. Es un incidente triste y trágico", dijo Lee. Los seguidores de Roh se han mostrado muy afectados. En las calles de la capital surcoreana se reunieron espontáneamente cientos de seguidores del que fue político reformista y liberal.
Roh fue objeto el mes pasado de una investigación relacionada con sobornos. Sobre el ex mandatario pesaban acusaciones de haber recibido seis millones de dólares de un hombre de negocios durante su mandato a través de su familia y secretarios.
El político negó la mayoría de los cargos, pero pidió disculpas públicamente por la implicación de su familia en el escándalo. Los asistentes de Roh señalaron que el ex presidente estaba bajo creciente presión debido a la investigación.
El sábado el Departamento de Justicia anunció el final de las investigaciones.
Roo Moo Hyun sirvió como presidente de Corea del Sur de 2003 a 2008. El político liberal ascendió al poder con la promesa de romper con la corrupción endémica y un regionalismo nocivo, para poner fin a la política elitista y ambiciosa de unos pocos privilegiados.
El apoyo público a su mandato pronto se deterioró, a pesar de las grandes esperanzas iniciales depositadas en él, debido a las acusaciones de incompetencia en su gestión de la economía y de numerosos enfrentamientos personales entre Roh y los medios de comunicación, sus apuestas políticas arriesgadas y una creciente tensión con Estados Unidos.
El ex abogado fue un declarado partidiario de la llamada "sunshine policy" (política de acercamiento) con Corea del Norte. Mantuvo que cualquier sanción contra Pyongyang sólo aumentaría el riesgo de una escalada de tensiones.
Sus detractores acusaron a Roh de llevar una política de concesiones. Protagonizó un encuentro histórico con el líder de Corea del Norte Kim Jong Il en 2007, que culminó con la firma de una declaración conjunta de paz y cooperación.
Ese progreso fue desechado por Pyongyang en 2009 cuando el sucesor de Roh, Lee Myung Bak, adoptó una postura menos conciliadora hacia Corea del Norte.
Nacido el 6 de agosto de 1946 en una granja en Gimhae, situado en Pusan, trabajó duro por salir de su entorno humilde. Para hacer realidad su sueño de convertirse en abogado estudió a distancia desde casa.
En los años 80 Roh tuvo problemas con el régimen militar por su condición de abogado defensor de los derechos humanos. En 1987 estuvo temporalmente en la cárcel.
Antes de acceder a la presidencia se presentó tres veces a elecciones generales como candidato del Partido Democrático del Milenio.
Después, el legado político de Roh se vio ensombrecido por investigaciones abiertas en torno a su posible implicación en un escándalo de largo alcance de soborno. Roh deja mujer y dos hijos.
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