Thousands of people showed up for a memorial for a President that really did not accomplish anything while in office other than advance anti-US sentiment and is most well known for committing suicide because of corruption surrounding his family:
Kwon Yang-sook (C, front row), the widow of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, former President Moon Jae-in (2nd from R, second row), Prime Minster Han Duck-soo (2nd from R, third row) and other government and political leaders pay tribute to Roh during a memorial service marking the 14th year since his death at Bongha Village in the southeastern city of Gimhae on May 23, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Thousands of people, including a large number of lawmakers from rival parties and key political figures, attended a memorial service for late former President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday.
The ceremony, marking the 14th year since Roh’s death, was held in the southeastern rural village of Bongha, Roh’s hometown, to commemorate the liberal icon who took his own life in 2009 amid a sprawling corruption probe.
Also in attendance were former President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, both of whom worked with Roh during his presidency from 2003 to 2008.
“I remember the president who dedicated his life to opening the future for the Republic of Korea as I served as the prime minister under the Roh administration,” Han said in a memorial address.
A wreath of flowers sent by President Yoon Suk Yeol also was placed at Roh’s graveyard.
On May 23, 2009, Roh jumped to his death from a cliff behind his retirement home amid a corruption probe by the prosecution into his family and aides.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but even the People Party Power showed for this memorial which is surprising because the Korean left blamed the conservative President Lee Myung-bak for investigating Roh after he left office for corruption which led to his suicide. That is why Roh protege former President Moon Jae-in immediately launched investigations against Lee after he took office and put him in jail.
The fact that Yoon Suk-yeol is joining in to namedrop for President Roh Moo-hyun could be interpreted that he is getting desperate because I can’t image Roh supporters voting for a conservative candidate:
Ahn also stressed his connection with Roh, saying the former president’s first legislative constituency was in Busan, Ahn’s hometown, and he was one of eight civilians invited to Roh’s inauguration ceremony.
Korea Times
His remarks came after his main rivals Lee Jae-myung of the DPK and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) namedropped the late president.
On Sunday, Lee visited Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, where Roh is buried. While paying tribute to the former president, the former Gyeonggi Province governor got emotional at one point.
“To establish the world where human beings live is a dream of Roh Moo-hyun, (President Moon Jae-in) and Lee Jae-myung,” he said during the visit.
Lee also wrote in a guestbook that he will build a world without foul play or privilege.
On Saturday, Yoon paid a visit to a naval base on Jeju Island, a project launched by Roh that faced a strong backlash from residents and activists as well as his supporters, who feared that the base could set off a regional arms race and damage the island’s environment. The construction of the Jeju base was completed in 2016.
Praising Roh’s decision to build the naval base to bolster self-reliance in national defense, Yoon also got emotional, saying that he has Roh’s agony and determination engraved in his heart. Yoon paused for a moment to compose himself.
You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads likely remember that President Roh was elected on a platform that included anti-Americanism, often clashed with the former Bush administration, and was pro-North Korea. Considering all the money Roh allowed to be funneled into North Korea it is arguable that Roh could be considered the father of the North Korean nuclear bomb.
Roh often claimed how he wasn’t corrupt, but after his presidency he committed suicide to protect corrupt family members. Former President Lee Myung-bak is still jailed because he was the one that launched the investigation into Roh’s family that uncovered the corruption that led to his suicide. The Korean left never forgot and once President Moon was elected, investigations were opened to go after Lee and imprison him.
How Yoon Suk-yeol thinks he will get votes from the group of people that still support Roh is beyond me.
If anyone is wondering why President Moon is going after Korea’s prosecutorial system here is the supposed reason:
Moon, who once worked as a lawyer, saw the need for an institutional framework to end what he saw as a vicious cycle: The prosecution was used as a tool for “political retaliation” every time a government changed.
Roh died by suicide in 2009, the year after he completed his term, after prosecutors under conservative President Lee Myung-bak questioned him over bribery allegations.
“The conflict between the participatory (Roh Moo-hyun) government and the prosecution over the reform resulted in Roh’s tragic death,” Moon wrote in the book.
Korea Herald
In reality the prosecutors were not responsible for Roh’s death, the corruption surrounding Roh was responsible for his death. Long time ROK Heads may remember that Roh used to go around claiming he was the “cleanest” ROK president ever; essentially attacking past Korean conservative Presidents as being corrupt. When President Lee Myung-bak took over after Roh Presidency ended, he had prosecutors look into Roh’s finances and found corruption involving family members and former aides. Roh had to eventually admit to his part in the corruption:
“I want to make public something in advance,” Roh wrote. “Right now, Chung Sang-moon, former Blue House secretary, is being questioned on charges of receiving money from Park. I am concerned that Chung might have testified that he had actually done so. The accusation should be directed toward us, not Chung.
“My home made the request, received money and used it,” the former president confessed. “We have done so because we still had outstanding debts.”
Roh wrote that he will cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation and testify concerning details. “I will face legal action in accordance with the case. I apologize again,” he wrote.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Instead of facing an embarrassing trial for the multiple corruption cases that surrounded him and his family he decided to commit suicide. His suicide effectively made him a martyr to the Korean left and protected his kids from being charged by the prosecutors.
So when President Moon Jae-in took over as President he immediately went after former President Lee for corruption and had him thrown in jail. So it is pretty ironic that Moon claims in his book that the prosecution system needs to be reformed because it gets used for political retaliation when he in fact did the same thing once in power.
Then last week he executed his “Wednesday Night Massacre” to stifle corruption investigations into his administration by Korean prosecutors. His administration also implemented so called “reforms” that will ensure that the current government can continue to cover up internal corruption.
Whatever dreams Roh Moo-hyun may have had, President Moon his former Chief of Staff is moving forward with them and considering the current poor economy and state of affairs with North Korea is not going so good:
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Roh, who jumped off a cliff behind his home in Bongha amid the prosecution’s widening probe into allegations that his family members accepted illicit funds.
KBS World Radio
In his memorial address, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, who served as Roh’s first chief of staff, said bidding farewell to the late president was too much of a grief to bear.
[Sound bite: National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang (Korean)]
“Your election on December 19, 2002 was itself the symbol of resolving regionalism.
Three state tasks have yet to be accomplished: ‘The Era of East Asian Peace and Prosperity,’
‘Democracy with the People,’ and ‘Balanced Development of a Co-prosperous Society’
We will march again for the dream of Roh Moo-hyun.”
Moon added that South Koreans overcame the anguish of his death and participated in candlelight vigils to create a new nation moving towards peace.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said the late president embraced challenges no one had ever dared to take on and endured setbacks never before experienced.
Lee said Roh’s existence was hope for the ordinary people and his defiance was the people’s dream.
Also in attendance was former U.S. President George W. Bush, who was in office when Roh was South Korea’s president from 2003 to 2008, and First Lady Kim Jung-sook.
[Sound bite: Former US President George W. Bush (English)]
“President Roh stood for what he believed was best for his country. And may we have some differences but no disagreement ever outweighed our shared belief of the U.S.-South Korea relationship.”
You can read more at the link.
Considering that former Presidents George Bush and Roh Moo-hyun’s last meeting ended in a testy exchange about North Korea, Poongsan Corp. must be providing him a pretty nice travel package to attend this memorial service:
Former U.S. President George W. Bush plans to visit South Korea next week to attend a memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of former President Roh Moo-hyun’s death, an official said Monday.
Korea Times
Bush is expected to participate in the memorial event to be held on May 23 at Bongha Village in Gimhae, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, hometown of the late president, according to a foundation set up in honor of Roh.
Bush was Roh’s U.S. counterpart during the South Korean president’s presidency from 2003 to 2008.
“His attendance of the memorial service has been confirmed. We will reveal details later this week,” an official at the Roh Moo-hyun foundation said.
In May 2009, Roh jumped to his death off a cliff behind his retirement home amid a widening probe by prosecutors over allegations that members of his family accepted illicit funds.
Bush’s planned visit is believed to be arranged by local arms manufacturer Poongsan Corp., which has long ties with the Bush family.
He reportedly will visit Seoul for affairs related to the company. Bush’s side is believed to have expressed his intent to participate in the memorial service through the company.
Here is an interesting tidbit about President Moon, he supposedly help fund the creation of the left wing Hankyoreh newspaper back in the 1980’s to help get favorable coverage for himself and former President Roh Moo-hyun:
South Korean President Moon Jae-In was among a group of investors who made large donations in the 1980s to establish the left-wing Hankyoreh Media Group, a report said.
Moon gave 200 million won ($552,000 in 2019 dollars) to the media group, which established the far-left Hankyoreh newspaper in 1987, according to a Jan. 28 report by East Asia Research Center.The report also noted that Moon was the only one of the original investment group to not be refunded his donation.
Moon “purposely did not get the money back, the only one to refuse to take back the money,” the report said. (…….)The report said: “In the late 1980s, when Hankyoreh, centered around dismissed journalists from Donga Ilbo andChosun Ilbo, started to raise funds to start a newspaper, [Moon] gave 200,000,000 won without any hesitation. But at the time, Moon Jae-In, then a lawyer, was not in a position to readily give the 200,000,000 won. He didn’t have that much money, living in an apartment with 2,000,000 won ($5,520) ‘Jeonse’ [refundable down payment, no monthly rent]. But Moon was determined to make a good press and obtained a loan to make the generous contribution. Thanks to Moon and 20,000 investors, Hankyoreh newspaper raised 5,000,000,000 won ($13.8 million) and printed 500,000 initial copies.”
World Tribune
Song In-Bae, Moon’s longtime associate and current chief personal secretary, was quoted in the report as saying: “Hankyoreh started to return the money to everyone, but there is one person to whom the money was not returned, and that is Moon Jae-In…Hankyoreh wants to return the money, but he still refused to accept.”
Song also stated that Moon gave the money in order for Hankyoreh to establish a branch in Busan, where Moon and Rho Moo-Hyun had their law office and were active politically. Rho, South Korea’s president from 2003-2008, died in 2009.
On April 9, 2017 when Moon was a presidential candidate, he said to a Hankoyreh journalist: “I think Hankyoreh has love for me and my party. I hope you remember that I’m a founding member of Hankyoreh.”
You can read more at the link as well as over at the East Asia Research Center.
Kwon Yang-sook, wife of late former President Roh Moo-hyun, votes at a polling station in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, on June 13, 2018. (Yonhap)
