Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has
died in an apparent suicide. Mr. Roh fell to his death Saturday from a mountain
cliff. The former president was facing an intense corruption investigation.
A lawyer for Mr. Roh's family says the former head of state left a
brief note about his mental anguish Saturday before taking his own life. Moon
Jae-in, a former aide, says Mr. Roh apparently jumped from a mountain cliff
Saturday during an early morning hike. He died of injuries soon
thereafter.
Mr. Roh and members of his family have been under
investigation for allegedly receiving millions of dollars in bribes from a
business executive. In his apparent suicide note, Mr. Roh requested he be
cremated and be remembered with a small stone monument in his rural home
village.
Roh: "Don't blame me"
The note says the former president could
no longer even concentrate on reading a book, and added, "don't blame me, life
and death are the same."
Mr. Roh testified for more than 10 hours last
month in the corruption investigation. Prosecutors were giving serious
consideration to issuing a warrant for the former president's arrest.
President campaigned on clean government
The scandal was a
painful irony for Mr. Roh, who won election in 2002 on a campaign of clean and
transparent government. He expressed shame and apologized publicly to South
Korean citizens at the site of last month's testimony.
Average South
Koreans are shocked, and mixed in their reaction to the news. Thirty-year-old
Yun Hye-yun says it was an irresponsible thing to do, as the president of a
nation, especially South Korea, where suicide is a major social problem. Still,
she says she can partially understand why he did it, as a means to assume
responsibility for the whole family's wrongdoing.
Fifty-nine-year-old
Jeon Su-young describes the suicide as "unbelievable, impossible." He says Mr.
Roh must have suffered so much. Even though the authorities wanted to get to the
truth, he says, things should not have turned out this way.
It remains to
be seen how South Koreans, especially supporters of Mr. Roh, will behave as they
emerge from shock. Some political observers are predicting a backlash against
prosecutors, and possibly public demonstrations.