File photo of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun leaves after his interrogation at the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office in Seoul in this May 1, 2009. 
SEOUL: South Korea’s former President Roh Moo-hyun died while hiking in the mountains near his home early this morning and a top aide said he appeared to have jumped to his death.
The suggestions of suicide comes as Roh, whose five-year term ended in early 2008, had in recent weeks become embroiled in a widening corruption scandal in which his wife had also been implicated.
“Former President Roh left his house at 5:45am (local time) and while hiking on the Ponghwa Mountain, appears to have jumped off a rock at around 6:40am,” Moon Jae-in, who was Roh’s presidential chief of staff, said in a nationally televised statement. He also said that Roh had left a will for his family.
The suggestions of suicide comes as Roh, whose five-year term ended in early 2008, had in recent weeks become embroiled in a widening corruption scandal in which his wife had also been implicated.
“Former President Roh left his house at 5:45am (local time) and while hiking on the Ponghwa Mountain, appears to have jumped off a rock at around 6:40am,” Moon Jae-in, who was Roh’s presidential chief of staff, said in a nationally televised statement. He also said that Roh had left a will for his family.
“This is a truly unbelievable, lamentable and deeply sad event,” President Lee Myung-bak (photo), Roh’s successor, said in a statement released by the presidential Blue House.
An official with the Busan University Hospital, in the country’s southern port city near Roh’s home, told a televised news conference that the ex-leader had died from massive head injuries. The former president was taken to the hospital there.
Courtesy: Xinhua
An official with the Busan University Hospital, in the country’s southern port city near Roh’s home, told a televised news conference that the ex-leader had died from massive head injuries. The former president was taken to the hospital there.
Courtesy: Xinhua
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