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South Koreans pay emotional farewell to Roh

A hearse, third from bottom, containing the body of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun leaves after a funeral service in Seoul yesterday. Roh committed suicide on Saturday by jumping off a cliff near his home. PHOTO: AP

A sea of wailing mourners filled the streets of Seoul for the funeral yesterday of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, whose suicide six days earlier amid a deepening corruption probe plunged the nation into grief and anger.

Heads bowed, thousands took part in a solemn ceremony in the courtyard of the 14th-century Gyeongbok Palace before the hearse carrying Roh’s body headed to a grassy plaza outside City Hall for emotional public rites attended by a reported 500,000 people. Riot police later moved in as the crush of mourners delayed the hearse from leaving the capital.

Police dispatched some 21,000 officers to quell any protests by Roh supporters who accuse conservative political opponents led by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of driving the liberal former leader to his death with the bribery investigation.

Roh, 62, died last Saturday after throwing himself off a cliff behind his home in the southern village of Bongha. Roh, president from 2003 to last year, recently had been questioned about allegations he and his family accepted US$6 million in bribes during his presidency.

He denied the bribery accusations, but they weighed heavily on a man who prided himself on his record as a “clean” politician in a country struggling to shake a deeply rooted culture of corruption.

The suicide stunned the nation of 49 million, where the outspoken Roh — a self-taught former human rights lawyer who swept into office on a populist tide — was celebrated as a leader for the people and was a favorite among young South Koreans for standing up to Washington.

Though many were critical of his anti-establishment ways, others rallied around his efforts to promote democracy, fight corruption and facilitate rapprochement with North Korea.

Roh “lived a life dedicated entirely to human rights, democracy and fight against authoritarianism,” South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said at the palace funeral. “Our people won’t forget what you accomplished for the country and the people despite a number of hardships.”

Last weekend, Roh supporters refused to let Han and others from the ruling Grand National Party pay their respects in Bongha, with some dousing politicians with water and pelting them with eggs.

Roh supporters have called the probe against him “political revenge,” and posters accusing Lee of driving Roh to his death plastered the walls of one Seoul subway station.

“I’ve never been so ashamed of being a citizen of this country — a country that kills its own president,” said Won Seung-tae, 52, of Seoul. “It feels like we’ve lost all respect in pushing each other to extremes.”

Opposition lawmakers jeered Lee as he and his wife approached the altar to pay their respects.

“President Lee Myung-bak, apologize!” opposition lawmaker Baek Won-woo yelled, jumping to his feet and cursing Lee before security guards hauled him away. “This is political revenge, a political murder!”

A somber Lee looked back momentarily and hesitated before laying a white chrysanthemum on the altar and bowing before Roh’s portrait.

At City Hall, sobbing mourners wore yellow paper hats with images of Roh and waved yellow handkerchiefs as they watched the funeral on large monitors. The plaza was awash in yellow, Roh’s campaign color.

“I respected him. He was a person who never compromised with injustice,” said Chang Min-ki, 30, a yellow scarf tied around his neck. “I feel like I’ve lost everything.”

The funeral procession began at dawn in Roh’s hometown. Villagers lined Bongha’s streets as the hearse blanketed with white chrysanthemums departed for Seoul.

More than 2,500 were invited to a formal ceremony in the courtyard of the stately palace in the heart of ancient Seoul, where Roh’s portrait sat on a bed of 1 million chrysanthemums laid in the shape of a Rose of Sharon, South Korea’s national flower.

Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns chanted prayers as part of the multi-faith ceremony.

Roh’s ashes were to return to his village to be buried with a small gravestone as he wished.
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