S. Koreans mourn death of former President Roh

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- Cigarettes sent thick columns of smoke skywards in
front of former President Roh Moo-hyun's smiling portrait at mourning sites
across the nation Tuesday, as tens of thousands of South Koreans continued to bid
farewells to their deceased leader.

Roh, 62, had reportedly started smoking recently under the pressure of an
intensive bribery investigation. The former president leapt to his death from a
from a rock while hiking near his regional hometown on Saturday morning.
Shortly prior to leaping, he had asked his bodyguard for a cigarette but the man
had none. They have now become a poignant symbol of his death.
"Had he smoked a cigarette at the top of the mountain, he might have changed his
mind and still be with us," a tearful middle-aged-looking man said, lighting a
cigarette and placing it on an ashtray placed in front of an altar set up in
Seoul Station. "Foolish man, didn't you know how much we loved you?"
Roh left a suicide note expressing emotional suffering over a corruption scandal
that had sent several of his relatives and confidants to jail.
Serving as president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008, Roh had taken pride in his
image as a "clean politician," largely tarnished after his family faced
questioning over US$6 million allegedly given during Roh's presidency by a
businessman. Prosecutors terminated the investigation shortly after the death of
Roh, who became the third former president to be summoned and questioned for
alleged corruption.
Seoulites continued to drop by mourning sites set up at the center of the city
before heading to work Tuesday, many seen dressed in black and bearing flowers
and cigarettes.
"May your soul rest in peace," a female citizen murmured, bowing deeply along a
line of bereaving people at a mourning site outside the Deoksu Palace, central
Seoul. "Forget bad things and take only the good memories with you."
Some of Roh's staunchest supporters including former Health Minister Rhyu Si-min
and opposition Democratic Party Chairman Chung Se-kyun remained through late
night at the Seoul Station mourning site.
TV footage also showed a long line of mourners journeying to Roh's hometown
Bongha Village, visited by nearly 500,000 people since Saturday.
Bowing deeply and laying white chrysanthemums, people who were interviewed called
Roh's death a "great loss to the nation," while some angrily accused the
incumbent Lee Myung-bak government of driving Roh to death with a
"politically-driven probe."
A left-wing politician and a self-taught human rights lawyer, Roh was elected the
country's leader backed by overwhelmingly strong support from the younger
generation, maintaining a shaky relationship with the conservative opposition
party.
Conflicts have been snowballing in the usually quiet village, some 450 kilometers
south of Seoul, as supporters of Roh have been fending off top officials of the
Lee administration, including Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, from the mourning
rites.
Supporters destroyed the flower offering sent by the president and incumbent
officials, and ruling party leaders had to turn back, attacked by eggs and sprays
of water.
The government and Roh's family have agreed to hold a public "people's funeral,"
after a seven-day mourning period, on Friday at Gyeongbok Palace in downtown
Seoul, according to the home affairs ministry.
After the funeral, Roh's body will be laid to rest near his residence in Bongha
Village.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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