President Lee expresses regret over Roh`s death

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional remarks, more details)
SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak expressed deep regret over the
sudden death of his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday, calling it a national
tragedy, his spokesman said.
"It is truly hard to believe what happened. It is a sad, tragic incident," the
president was quoted as saying.
"The president and Cheong Wa Dae are in complete shock and disbelief," the
spokesman for the presidential office, Lee Dong-kwan, told a press briefing.
The president was told that Roh was involved in an accident about 40 minutes
after the former president reportedly jumped from a mountainside rock near his
home at around 6:40 a.m., according to the spokesman. He later received a report
on Roh's death while he was in a summit meeting with the visiting president of
the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus.
"President Lee was shocked by the report," the spokesman said, "and ordered swift
and complete measures to deal with the situation."
Roh was pronounced dead at 9:30 a.m. at a hospital near his home at Bonghwa
Village, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul.
An initial report to the president said Roh talked to his bodyguard about the
people walking by beneath the cliff, a Cheong Wa Dae official said.
"And that is when he reportedly jumped, while the guard was looking down the
cliff," the official said, asking not to be identified.
Cheong Wa Dae will arrange a funeral for the former president after consulting
with his family, he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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