Disgraced former SK prez jumps to death

Embattled former President Roh Moo-hyun — a reformist shamed by a corruption scandal that tarnished his image as a “clean” politician — jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in southern South Korea, his lawyer said.

Embattled former President Roh Moo-hyun — a reformist shamed by a corruption scandal that tarnished his image as a “clean” politician — jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in southern South Korea, his lawyer said. He was 62.

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Roh was hiking in the village of Bongha when he threw himself off a steep cliff around 6:40 am on Saturday (2340 GMT Friday), lawyer Moon Jae-in told reporters in the city of Busan. In a suicide note left for his family, Roh said life was “difficult” and apologized for making “too many people suffer,” a TV report said.

He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead from a head injury around, Busan National University Hospital said.

The apparent suicide — the first by a modern South Korean leader — shocked the nation. South Koreans huddled around TV screens at Seoul's main train station and elsewhere watching broadcasts of the news.

Roh, a self-taught former human rights lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation's highest office, prided himself on his clean record in a country with a long history of corruption. He served as president from 2003 to 2008.