Former South Korean leader Roh dies in fall

(The Financial Times) – Roh Moo-hyun, former South Korean president, committed suicide on Saturday by jumping off a mountain top, police said.

Mr Roh left a brief suicide note to his family, Moon Jae-in, his lawyer, told reporters.

Mr Roh, 62, went hiking with a bodyguard to a mountain behind his residence in Bongha village, in southern South Korea, early Saturday morning. Police said he jumped off a rock at the top of the mountain and suffered severe head injuries. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, police said.

Mr Roh, who left office in February 2008, has been under a lot of stress in recent weeks due to a ballooning corruption scandal. His family has been grilled over their alleged involvement in the scandal and prosecutors were due to call in Mr Roh’s wife again this weekend for questioning.

South Koreans were shocked by Mr Roh’s suicide. The government held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the matter.

“This is hard to believe,” Lee Myung-bak, the president, said in a statement. “It’s very sad and lamentable.”

Mr Roh’s death came as prosecutors planned to decide next week whether to take legal action against him. Mr Roh had admitted that his wife had taken money from a businessman to pay family debts. He had issued a public apology, but the scandal has tarnished his otherwise clean image.

Mr Roh, a former human rights lawyer, was elected in 2002 on a promise to reform big conglomerates, fight corruption, improve relations with communist North Korea and make Seoul more independent from the US, its long-standing military ally.

But Mr Roh pursued broad market-friendly policies and signalled his commitment to the US by sending South Korean troops to Iraq. His five-year term was a roller-coaster ride marked by political infighting and scandals. Mr Roh was impeached by lawmakers in early 2004 over a breach of election rules but he was reinstated after the Constitutional Court overturned the move.