Thousands of South Korean mourners paid their last respects yesterday to former president Roh Moo-hyun, whose shock death by apparent suicide came as he faced a massive corruption scandal.
Roh’s body lay in state in his home village of Bongha in Gimhae city, a day after the man once known as “Mr Clean” leapt from a mountain, leaving behind a suicide note on his computer.
Thousands of people, many in tears, thronged the altar in Bongha, laying flowers and burning incense. Some collapsed as they approached his coffin, while hundreds of Buddhist monks offered prayers. Flags flew at half-mast.
“Life and death are all parts of nature,” Roh wrote in his note. “Don’t lay any blame. It’s fate.”
Mourners also packed the streets around an altar outside a heavily guarded palace in Seoul, as a shocked nation tried to come to terms with the first such event in the history of modern Korea. World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, offered their condolences to Roh’s family and the South Korean people.
Ban, who had served as Roh’s foreign minister, said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the news, in a statement released yesterday on the UN Web site.
“I pay tribute to the late president Roh, who exerted tireless efforts to promote democracy, undertake various reform measures and pave the way for building an advanced society in Korea. May he rest in peace,” Ban said.
Yonhap news agency said yesterday that police had tentatively concluded that Roh committed suicide. No formal confirmation has been issued.
The investigation into Roh centered around a payment worth US$1 million to his wife from a wealthy shoe manufacturer, and a payment by the same man worth US$5 million to the husband of one of Roh’s nieces.
He had apologized for his family’s involvement but had not admitted personal wrongdoing.
The government and Roh’s family on Sunday agreed to hold a “people’s funeral” for the late president in Gimhae on Friday after a seven-day mourning period, the ministry of public administration and security said.
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