Police say Roh jumped to his death

SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- Police tentatively concluded Sunday that former
President Roh Moo-hyun took his own life by jumping off a cliff.

In an interim report on the incident that rattled the nation, the Gyeongnam
Provincial Police Agency said Roh jumped to his death at 6:45 a.m. Saturday from a
mountain cliff near his home in Bongha Village, in the country's southeast.
The police have studied the note Roh left to his family on his computer, the site
where Roh fell and questioned the bodyguard who accompanied him on an
early-morning hike, said Lee No-gu, the chief investigator at the Gyeongnam
police agency.
Roh started writing what was apparently his suicide note on his computer at 5:21
a.m., saved it at 5:26 and again at 5:44 after revisions, Lee said. The note was
found by one of his aides and his family at home, Lee said.
Investigators "conducted an in-depth analysis of the computer yesterday, in the
presence of his family, and we found no evidence of manipulation, such as a trace
of another person writing the note," Lee told reporters.
The steep cliff Roh jumped off was some 500 meters away from his residence, the
officer said.
The unidentified guard who accompanied Roh was quoted as saying that everything
happened so quickly that he could not do anything.
Police plan to ask the National Institute of Scientific Investigation to further
examine the clothing and hiking shoes Roh was wearing, and will question the aide
and family members who first found his note, Lee said.
In the note, Roh spoke of the sufferings and the pain he has caused to others and
asked that he be cremated.
Roh and his wife were summoned by prosecutors last month on allegations that the
family took more than US$6 million from a corrupt businessman while the former
president was in office. Roh denied the allegations, saying he only learned of
the money after he stepped down in February last year.
Over the past months, Roh had stopped greeting the thousands of daily visitors
who made trips to Bongha Village, where he retired to grow rice and raise ducks.
Roh's family agreed with the government to hold a "people's funeral" for the late
president, a high-level procession arranged by the government. There will be a
seven-day mourning period before the funeral.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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