Former President of South Korea, No Moo Hyun, 62, committed suicide by leaping from a hill behind his house without any hesitation. He had gone hiking with a bodyguard, at 5:45 in the morning and jumped off the cliff of a rock called "Owl Rock." The hill was called, "Bong Hwa Mountain." The cliff was 20~30 meters high from the ground.
His main reason was his remorse after severe investigations despite his presidency that affected not only him, but every one of his family members and relatives. The president from 2003 to 2008 had been involved in an investigation of a bribery scandal. He had allegedly received $6 million dollars from a South Korean businessman while he was in office. His wife was scheduled to be questioned on Saturday, and himself was awaiting to be questioned the second time next week. During his time when he was in office, he had vowed to end corruption in the government, and many were disappointed when he had not made even a formal plea when he was accused. With his death, the case has been suspended.
He had left a short will to his family on a computer before he had left the house. It read, "It has been hard for me. I have become a burden for too many people around me. I cannot even read a book. Do not be sad. Aren't life and death both part of nature? Cremate me and place a small headstone near town."
However, there is now rumour going around in Korea that there was a piece of his last words that was kept secret from the public and then released later on by the police. Some people believe that the hidden part of his note said that he had done his best to serve his country with strong passion and that he is saddened. It had also said that he denies the accusation of the police that he was corrupted and that history will prove his innocense later on.
President Obama said in a statement that he was "saddened" by his death. He said, "During his tenure, President Roh contributed to the strong and vital relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea. On behalf of the government of the United States, I offer my condolences to his family and to the Korean people." President No had tried to improve the relations between North Korea and the South while he was in office. He was the first South Korean leader to cross the DMZ and meet with Kim Jong Il. He continued to follow the "sunshine policy" by Kim Dae-Sung, his predecessor, that wanted to connect the North and the South. However, the current president, Lee Myung-Bak is establishing a higher and strong wall between the North and the South.
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I was saddened by this sudden tragedy, and I found myself becoming a believer in the rumour that is going around on the internet. However, there was a Korean news article that stated that the rumour was not true and that it was made up by President No's supporters to frame the police. To add, the police denied having released any other information or hiding any information. In my opinion, the case should be just dropped and never mentioned again in the public. The formal president is dead, and there is nothing that we can do about it. As he said in his note, we should stop the investigations and not cause any more controversies or even any kind of involvment of No Moo Hyun's family members. This is the least we could do.
1 comment:
I was also saddened by this tragedy and pay respect to former President Roh. However, I think we have to be rational in approaching to this issue. So many people have lost their minds and become one-sided. This appears in cases where people protest to impeach current President Lee Myung-bak without any evidence of President controlling the prosecutors and the press. Although they may be right and that’s what many people say, they have to take a series of investigations before they take a side. In this context, I think ending the investigations is also irrational because what matters more is removing corruption than how we feel about the death of former president. I am just saying his death shouldn’t affect our mind just because we feel sorry for him. In addition, what I am really disappointed at this Korean society is how there seems to be no truthful source where I can get balanced opinion, or I might have just lost trust in the press. To conclude, I still believe that he was the cleanest politician who had significantly contributed in removing corruption in society. And that the “cleanest” politician has been accused of a bribery scandal clearly shows how deeply corruption has been rooted in Korean society and how difficult it would be to eradicate this tradition.
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