Roh's funeral planned for Friday near his home

SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- A funeral service for former President Roh Moo-hyun will be held this week near his rural home in the country's southwest as the government and his family agreed Sunday to hold a "people's funeral" following a seven-day mourning period.

The service will be held Friday at a public stadium in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang
Province, according to Cheon Ho-sun, a spokesman for Roh's family.
Under current law, South Korea's former and incumbent heads of state are entitled
to a state or a people's funeral. A state funeral follows a nine-day mourning
period and has only been held once here for the late former President Park
Chung-hee.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and his predecessor Han Myeong-sook, who served as
prime minister under Roh, will jointly head a government committee that will
organize and oversee the state-arranged funeral service, according to Cheon.
Roh, 62, died early Saturday after he fell from a cliff near his home in Bongha
Village, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul.
The police have tentatively concluded that the former head of state leaped to his
death as a memo that appeared to be a suicide note was later found on his
computer.
After the funeral service, Roh will be laid to rest near his residence in Bongha
Village, said Cheon, who served as senior presidential secretary for public
information during the Roh presidency.
Roh and his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, had settled in the rural town following his
retirement in February 2008.
The former president in the note to his family asked that his body be cremated
and a small stone monument be set up for him in the village.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said it plans to set up
official memorial altars in all major cities throughout the country.