South Korea's Ex-President Roh Moo Hyun Remembered (4) 5/23/2009 Honolulu News

5/23/2009 Bongha, South Korea - By YOUNG-JOON AHN, Associated Press Writer Young-joon Ahn, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 32 mins ago

BONGHA, South Korea Thousands streamed to a village in rural South Korea on Sunday to pay their respects to ex-President Roh Moo-hyun a day after he killed himself by jumping off a rocky cliff overlooking his home.

In central Seoul, mourners laid white chrysanthemums — a traditional Korean symbol of grief — and bowed before a portrait of the 62-year-old ex-leader at a makeshift memorial outside the 16th-century Deoksu Palace.

Roh, who relied on pluck and hard work to rise from his impoverished youth in rural Gimhae to become leader of this nation of 49 million in 2003, died Saturday morning. He left behind a note describing his suffering and asking to be cremated.

His suicide, just 15 months after he left office, came as he and his family faced intense questioning about $6 million given to the Rohs during his presidency by a Seoul businessman implicated in a number of bribery scandals.

The allegations weighed heavily on a man who prided himself on his "clean" record in a country struggling to shake a cultural tradition of corruption.

Prosecutors grilled him for hours three weeks ago, and said Roh denied the bribery allegations. They were to announce soon whether they would seek his arrest.

"What's left for me for the rest of my life is just to be a burden to others," Roh wrote in the note found on his computer. "Don't be too sad. Aren't life and death both part of nature? Don't feel sorry. Don't blame anybody. It's destiny."

His death stunned the nation. South Koreans were glued to TV monitors across the country. Many snapped up special newspaper editions about Roh. Tens of thousands flooded his Web site, posting condolences.

"Roh's life — fraught with challenge and glory and disgrace — ended like this. We pray for Roh's soul," the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Sunday. The paper, which had an uneasy relationship with Roh, had called for a thorough investigation of the liberal ex-leader.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, said he was "shocked and deeply saddened."

"I pay tribute to the late President Roh, who exerted tireless efforts to promote democracy, undertake various reform measures and paved the way for building an advanced society in Korea," Ban said in a statement Sunday. "May he rest in peace."

The Roh family has agreed with the government to hold a "people's funeral" for the late president after a seven-day mourning period, the Yonhap news agency said.

Roh's supporters accused his conservative opponents of driving him to his death with the aggressive investigation.

"The people and history know well what led a former president to face that tragic end," Kim Yoo-jung, a spokeswoman for the main opposition Democratic Party, said in a statement.

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and other top officials from conservative President Lee Myung-bak's administration were turned away from the village of Bongha, the village 280 miles (450 kilometers) from Seoul that Roh moved to after leaving office to grow rice and raise ducks.

Some Roh backers hurled eggs at a bus carrying Lee Hoi-chang, the conservative who lost the presidential election to Roh in 2002, South Korean news reports said.

In Bongha, mourners clad in black — many weeping — burned incense and left chrysanthemums before bowing to Roh's portrait.

Scores of people, many bearing flowers and holding their children's hands, walked more than a mile (about two kilometers) or took a shuttle bus to tents set up at Bongha's community center and waited in long lines to pay their respects.

Roh's coffin, draped in red, had returned to Bongha from a hospital in the nearby city of Busan on Saturday, and was met by his daughter and son. His son, Roh Gun-ho, tearfully laid a single chrysanthemum before his father's portrait on Saturday.

The late ex-leader's brother, Roh Gun-pyeong, sentenced last week to four years in prison in connection with a separate bribery case, also arrived to pay his respects after being granted a provisional release.

Roh's family agreed Sunday to a state-organized funeral, Roh's aide said by telephone from Bongha. His body will be cremated as he wished and the mourning period could last up to seven days, the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

More than 13,000 mourners have made the pilgrimage to the small village near Roh's birthplace, Gimhae, police said.

"Please rest in peace," one mourner wrote in a guestbook. "We pray for your happiness" said another.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Jean H. Lee contributed to this report from Seoul.

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• SouthKorea
• Bongha
• 노무현
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• 봉하
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• 盧武鉉・韓国前大統領死亡
• ノ・ムヒョン韓国前大統領自殺
• 한국역사인물韓國歷史人物

[hoochee002]

왜 저들은 소수임에도 불구하고 자신들만이 국민이며 자신들의 생각만이 진리이고 자신과 뜻이 맞지 않으면 기득권 부폐 세력, 자신들만이 민주화에 공헌했고 나머지는 다 일제 및 독재 잔당으로 치부하고, 다수의 국민이 우민이고 자기네들만이 똑똑하다고 생각을 할까?

[hoochee002]

다른사람들이 병신이라 생각이 다른게 아니라 다른사람들도 다 자기네들이 추구하고 지향하는 생각과 이념이 있다. 모두가 만족하는것이 이상적이겠지만 누군가 하나 없어져야 한다면 그것이 그네들이 그토록 바라는 거라면 소수인쪽이 다수를 위해 피해주는것이 서로를 위해 맞지 않나?

[Fronsws]

잘 모르겠음

[kenkim301]

I simply feel pity on what you think like that. You are blind and sick.

[hoochee002]

나는 기득권도 아니고 바보 병신도 아니다. 비리라곤 저질러 본적도 없고 남에게 악의를 품고 피해준적도 없다고 자부한다. 그치만 나의 가치관과 노무현과 진보세력이 주장하는것은 다는 아니더라도 맞지 않는 부분이 너무도 많았다. 나는 그것을 반대할 권리조차 없나?

[hoochee002]

그래 저들이 저렇게 질질 짜가며 성인처럼 받들었던 노무현은 지금 내 마누라가 돈은 받았지만, 내 보좌관들 부하직원들 다 알았지만 나만은 몰랐다. 내가 알았다는 증거를 가져와라. 라고 하고있다. 그러는 와중에도 저들은 표적수사니 어쨌느니. 그래 표적수사일수도 있다. 하지만 잘못이 없다면 걸리지 않겠지.

[hoochee002]

돈 받아 문제된 노무현 전대통령 가족은 노무현 전대통령 자신의 자살로 무죄화 될 수는 없다. 틀린건 틀린 거니까. 정부도 이런 분위기에 휩쓸려 노 전대통령 가족의 뇌물수수를 모른척해선 안된다.왜 서로들 이성적이지 못한 것인가. 왜 이런 동영상으로 문제의 심지를 흐리는 것인가.

[hoochee002]

노무현 대통령님. 딴나라당이 친일매국노 소굴인건 맞는말이고 민주화는 정부가 아니라 국민이 만들어낸것도 사실이고 기득권 부폐 세력 타령하는건 일부일뿐이다. 따지자면 한나라당에 대항하는 이회창이나 진중권 같은 사람들도 기득권이고 이제 돌아가신 노무현 전대통령도 변호사 출신이었는데 기득권이잖아.

[hoochee002]

You don't like to face facts.