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.
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