At 5:50 a.m. on May 23, the morning sun had slowly climbed up the hill from the horizon. A mansion at the foot of the Gyeonghae-seop Volcano in Gyeongsangnam-do Seems to be still in a deep sleep.
At this time, the jingle bell of the telephone in the mansion began to ring, like a whistle that cut through the silence. Guard Li Bingchun picked up the phone, and a familiar bass voice came from the other end: "Please accompany me for a walk." ”
Speaking was former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. He stepped down as South Korea's 16th president in February 2008 and returned to his hometown of Gyeongsangnam-do in Myeonghae Village. It has now been more than a year since he returned home.
Just a few days ago, Roh Moo-hyun and his wife invited a villager to their home to eat roast chicken. Roh Moo-hyun seems to have a poor appetite and eats very little. Before leaving, he told the villagers: "Don't have bad eyes in the future." ”
Li Bingchun did not take this sentence to heart at that time. The president, who returns to his hometown and lives a leisurely retirement life, is often concerned about the villagers' lives and harvests, and it is normal to see villagers working in the fields often making small talk.
Hours later, when he was being questioned by the police covered in blood, Mr. Lee could no longer erase the words from his mind.
And what happened, we have to start two months ago.
In December 2008, Park Won-ji, the owner of The Tae Kwang Industrial Company, a South Korean shoemaker, was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion and bribery, and was subsequently dragged out of a number of high-ranking South Korean officials suspected of accepting bribes.
On March 31, South Korea's Attorney General's Office discovered that Park Had remitted $5 million to Mr. Roh,Yône, the eldest son-in-law of Mr. Roh's brother, Mr. Yoo-hyun. The bribery case reached the level of former President Roh Moo-hyun, shocking the government and the opposition.
The police then conducted a comprehensive investigation into Roh Moo-hyun. Subsequent investigations uncovered that Former Blue House Presidential Secretary Jung Sang-moon was suspected of receiving $1 million in illegal funds from Park Won-ji.
As soon as the news came out, Roh Moo-hyun, who had retired at home, immediately became a major media headline. More explosive news is yet to come. On April 7, Roh Moo-hyun published an article titled "Apologize" through his personal website, publicly accepting for the first time that his family had received about six million US dollars from Park, but he himself did not know it.
Mrs. Kwon Leung-sook can also provide an IOU of $5 million, mainly for debt repayment. Roh Moo-hyun ran a mineral water company in debt of about $2.262 million. Roh Moo-hyun, as a representative of his image of integrity, did not have enough financial resources to pay this debt. As a result, this has led to the current situation of suspected corruption.
Since then, Roh Moo-hyun's life seems to have been the subject of observation under a microscope. The media flocked to the volcano, where they mounted cameras and cameras on beacon volcanoes to "spy" on Roh Moo-hyun's home 24 hours a day.
Once, Kwon Liang-sook took an umbrella and walked to the wall, and then it was placed on the front page of the media. The inner torment originally suffered from suspected corruption has now added a fire under the siege of the media. Roh Moo-hyun couldn't come out all day, the doors and windows were tightly closed, and he had almost no room to breathe.
Min Guishik, a professor at the Institute of China Studies at Hanyang University in South Korea, said: "The media is also mocking and insulting Roh Moo-hyun every day. On April 21, Roh Moo-hyun's spirit seemed to be pushed to the brink of collapse. He blogged about his home as a prison. Relatives and friends are not allowed to come to the house because their photos are immediately published in the media, accompanied by strange analysis. He pleaded with the media: "Give me back my backyard." The tone was almost humble, but with little effect.
April 30 was the day Roh Moo-hyun went to Seoul for interrogation. The media has long blocked the door of the house. The ceremonial bus provided by the Blue House slowly pulls into Roh Moo-hyun's doorstep. Roh Moo-hyun came out of his house in a navy blue suit and walked in front of the media, bowed to the onlookers, and told reporters that he "has no face to face the people." His wife sent Roh Moo-hyun to the door with tears in her eyes and choked: "Until now, the family's money is still in my hands, and the former president Lu is completely unaware." ”
After arriving in Seoul, Roh Moo-hyun's car was also besieged by a human wall. Some conservative groups threw eggs and shoes at Roh Moo-hyun's car. In order to maintain order, the police dispatched more than 1,200 police forces to surround the building.
On this day, Roh Moo-hyun met briefly with Mr. Park for the first time after the case, albeit for only a minute or two. There are many emotions between old friends.
Park Won-ci first said: "We are confidants for more than 20 years, how can we confront each other?" I'm interested in telling the truth, so I ask the President to tell the truth. Roh Moo-hyun replied, "I said I would not accept cross-examination. I may also be like President Park and immediately put on the 'blue coat'. "Park Won-ci and Roh Moo-hyun have a deep relationship, and because of this, with the deepening of the investigation, the relatives and friends involved in Roh Moo-hyun's case have gradually expanded, which has made Roh Moo-hyun's heart more and more anxious.
After that, on May 22, Roh Moo-hyun published a similarly brilliant article on his blog, writing: "This is the last article. As for the things that have been investigated, as a former president, my reputation and moral trust have been completely finished, and now I Am Roh Moo-hyun is no longer a symbol of the values that everyone pursues... 5 million or 1 million US dollars, even if 'the lady did it, I don't know', this sentence can only make me more embarrassed. "Please give up on me..... Now all I have left is to bow my head and ask the people for their share. I'll do it when things get to a certain point. "Anything I say will provoke anger and ridicule from people." I didn't have the face to say anything more. ”
It was the early hours of May 22. Roh Moo-hyun got up when the morning sun was slightly dewy and watched his sleeping wife not wake him up. At 6 o'clock, accompanied by Li Bingchun's guards, the two set off towards the Beacon Volcano, 200 meters away from the door of their home.
At about 6:50 a.m., the two climbed the cliffs of Owl Rock at an altitude of more than 100 meters above sea level. Roh Moo-hyun stood on the rock and stared for a long time. About twenty minutes later, Roh Moo-hyun asked Lee Byung-chun, "Is there any smoke?" ”
Because Li Bingchun did not bring a cigarette at work, he asked, "Do you want to go back and get it?" Roh Moo-hyun waved his hand and said no.
After a while, Li Bingchun saw that several people were heading in the direction of Owl Rock. Worried that it was a reporter, he stepped forward to warn them not to go any further.
At this moment, Li Bingchun heard a slight noise. When he returned to Owl Rock, there was no trace of Roh Moo-hyun. Remembering the noise just now, he felt that something very bad had happened. Sure enough, at the bottom of the mountain, after he searched for a short time, he found Roh Moo-hyun. He had fallen into a coma, suffered a severe blow to the head, and his head and hands were blurred with blood and flesh, but he did not die on the spot.
Lee Byung-chun immediately carried Roh Moo-hyun down the hill and called for a guard car. When he got into the car, Lee Byung-chun's clothes were already covered with Roh Moo-hyun's blood. At 7:00 a.m., Roh Moo-hyun was taken to the nearby Gimhae Shiying Hospital for rescue, but when he arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious.
Emergency personnel, after performing cardiac resuscitation on Roh Moo-hyun, urgently transferred him to the better-equipped Busan University Hospital in Liangshan. The ambulance roared past Se-young Hospital, and by 8:13, by the time it arrived at Pusan National University Hospital, Roh Moo-hyun, wearing an oxygen mask, had stopped breathing physiologically. Pusan National University Hospital performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and various first aid measures, all of which failed. At 9:30 a.m., the hospital interrupted all emergency measures and declared Roh Moo-hyun dead. He had about 11 centimeters of lacerations on the top of his head, a fractured skull, a chest congestion, broken vertebrae and ribs, and a severe head injury that was the direct cause of death.
At 9:35, after hearing the news of her husband's accident, Roh Moo-hyun's wife, Kwon Liang-sook, rushed to the Busan University Hospital and fell unconscious on the spot when she saw the body. After the forensic doctor at Pusan National University Hospital completed the autopsy, he quickly issued an official report.
More than 30 officers from south Korea's Gyeongnam Police Department and the Gimhae Western Police Station conducted investigations at the scene of Roh Moo-hyun's cliff jump. There are many local people gathered there.
Police initially suspected that Roh might have accidentally stumbled and fallen off a cliff. The Owl Rock itself is about 30 meters high and more than 100 meters above sea level, at an inclined angle of about 40 degrees to Roh Moo-hyun's residence. The straight-line distance is only 500 meters. To put it bluntly, the Beacon Volcano is the backyard of Roh Moo-hyun's house. Standing on the top of Beacon Hill, you can have a panoramic view of the village under the peak. For Roh Moo-hyun, who was born here since childhood, he is very familiar with the terrain and scenery here, and the possibility of losing his footing is extremely small.
Meanwhile, police found Hiking boots and blood-stained shirts worn on Roh Moo-hyun's left foot under Owl Rock. Due to the slightly dangerous terrain of Owl Rock, there are not many people who usually play and practice in the morning, which seems to prove that Roh Moo-hyun deliberately chose the location of the cliff.
Police then found the most important evidence of Mr. Roh's suicide on computers at his apartment— a brief suicide note he wrote to his family. The computer showed that Roh Moo-hyun punched the computer to write a suicide note at 5:21 a.m., archived it for the first time in 26 minutes, and made the last save at 44 minutes. At about 6 o'clock, Roh Moo-hyun walked out of the house. After technical analysis, it was found that there were no traces of forgery. Police eventually confirmed that the former president, who was under intense pressure to be embroiled in a bribery scandal, had died by suicide.
The content of the suicide note is extremely simple, and it seems to be written in a cursory manner:
"I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the countryside after retiring, but I didn't expect to be able to do so, which is a pity." Although there were many voices criticizing me when it came to money, I was innocent. In the future, history will eventually give me a fair evaluation.
I was so tired that I couldn't even read the book. Because I alone have hurt too many people, the rest of my life seems to be a burden to others. Life and death are always the same thing, don't blame me too much, don't feel sorry for me, everything is fate.
"I'm really sorry for my son, daughter and all the people who supported me... When I die, please cremate me and then erect a small stone monument for me at the edge of the village.
Roh Moo-hyun's suicide note seems to show an old man who is in a state of disrepair at the end of his life with a resolute self-determination to defend himself.
In a huge shock, Lee Byung-chun recalled Roh Moo-hyun's life before committing suicide.
He remembered what Roh Moo-hyun said when he invited the villagers to eat roast chicken: "Don't have bad eyes in the future." Recalling this, it seems that this sentence was not said to the villagers.
As early as 4 days ago, Roh Moo-hyun didn't eat much and spent most of his time shutting himself in his office. Encouraging phone calls from supporters in the last month have also stopped answering. Confidants and friends' requests for meetings were all rejected, and smoking was fierce.
On the afternoon of the same day, Roh Moo-hyun's body was transported from the hospital back to his hometown of Fengxia Village, Gimhae City, Gyeongsangnam-do. The shrine is located in the villagers' hall.
On the evening of the 23rd, State Council Premier Han Seung-so and other government officials went to Fengxia Village to offer condolences, but they were blocked by angry members of the "Ailu Society" and villagers, and the villagers shouted emotionally: "Get back!" Media reporters and Li Huichang, president of the Liberal Advanced Party, were once strictly forbidden to enter the village. A villager interviewed by Global People told reporters: "President Lu was forced to die..." Before he finished speaking, he burst into tears.
On the morning of the 24th, Moon Jae-in, a former close confidant of Roh Moo-hyun and former secretary general of the Blue House, announced that former President Roh Moo-hyun had "committed suicide."
After the announcement, seoul streets were filled with people stopping to watch Roh Moo-hyun's news. Emotions of grief spread among the crowd. A civil servant said sadly: "President Lu is so approachable, he may not really accept money, but he is short-sighted, too pitiful." The people around him frequently wiped tears and nodded. Roh Moo-hyun's personal website, "The World People Live," featured several white pages of articles in an afternoon.
On the 24th, the South Korean government and Roh Moo-hyun's family reached an agreement to hold a national funeral for Roh Moo-hyun. The media changed their private faces and published editorials expressing deep condolences to Roh Moo-hyun and reflecting on the public-private boundary. Previously, Roh Moo-hyun's family once considered family burial.
On the 25th, embassies throughout South Korea and overseas set up shrines and other places of worship to mourn Roh Moo-hyun. On the same day, South Korean Premier Han Seung-so announced that the South Korean government had established a funeral committee for the "Former President Roh Moo-hyun National Funeral".
In the days that followed, almost all the traffic around The village was paralyzed, and the people who came to mourn had to stop about two kilometers from the village and walk to the village.
The daily beef soup rice that the mourner eats needs to consume 80 kilograms of rice and 125 bags of rice, the average daily consumption of beef is 800 kilograms, 300 kilograms of kimchi, 10,000 bottles of mineral water, and 10 tons of rice cakes are difficult to consume the daily needs of the mourning people, in addition, the demand for chrysanthemums required for daily condolences is once as high as more than 100,000 bunches.
Roh Moo-hyun's wife, Kwon Leung-sook, only appeared on the 25th, this day is Roh Moo-hyun's coffin ceremony, Kwon Leung-sook is dressed in mourning clothes, pushed by the guards to the shrine to see her husband for the last time, her face is haggard, and she is in front of the coffin with tears in front of the coffin to her husband with closed eyes finally instructed: "Let go of everything, rest assured to go." ”
On May 29, South Korea's Gyeongbokgung Palace, located in the heart of the capital Seoul, held a grand farewell ceremony for the remains of former President Roh Moo-hyun. More than 2,000 people, including former presidents Lee Myung-bak, Kim Dae-jung, kim Young-sam, senior officials of the current and former governments, envoys from various countries, and representatives from all walks of life in the ROK, attended the meeting.
At 5 o'clock on the 29th, the funeral committee held a solemn funeral ceremony for Roh Moo-hyun at the Fengxia Village Villagers' Association. At 11:00 a.m., the hearse slowly drove into the east gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the farewell ceremony for the remains officially began, and Lee Dakun, executive chairman of the Funeral Committee and minister of administration and safety, read out the life of Roh Moo-hyun. Prime Ministers Han Seung-so and Han Myung-sook delivered eulogies. Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, and Yuan-Buddhist ceremonies were held for Roh Moo-hyun. After the honor guard fired 21 guns, the ceremony was declared over.
At about 1 p.m., the road was lined with people who had come to pay their respects, and the hearse slowly drove into Seoul City Square. Crying rang out, and I wondered if any of the people in the crowd had delivered eggs to Mr. Roh on April 30. Hundreds of thousands of people from Fengxia Village, Seoul, Shuiyuan and other places attended the funeral on that day. Nearly 200,000 people around Seoul City Hall Square alone participate in the road festival.
By the end of Roh Moo-hyun's funeral, more than five million people had paid homage to his shrine, the highest in South Korea's history.
The head of state who is respected as a country, after leaving office, he was judicially investigated and punished at every turn, which can be called the unique "political culture" of Korean society.
Since independence in 1948, South Korea has produced 12 presidents, 4 of whom were ousted by revolutionary movements or military coups, 4 were sentenced, 1 was assassinated, 1 committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, and only 2 left office safely.