HE ENTERED the national stage as Mr Clean, a tireless crusader in a country rife with high-level corruption. He left disgraced, taking his own life amid suspicion that he had been dirtied by the culture of political bribery he had promised to clean up.
The suicide of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, days before he was expected to be indicted in an influence-peddling inquiry, left the nation grappling at the weekend with new and troubling questions about the moral character of its elected leaders.
“He was a two-faced person,” said Kim Seung-hwan, a senior research associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Seoul. “He set himself up as this crusader who was going to clean up South Korean politics.
“But he left so many questions about the influence of people around him and whether he himself was corrupt. For Koreans, he left behind a lot of frustration.”
Mr Roh (62), who jumped to his death from a rocky promontory near his home in the southern city of Busan, also leaves a hard-luck legacy of a flawed leader perhaps too human for the righteous agenda he swore to pursue.
Supporters say that with his emphasis on national sovereignty and independence from superpowers such as the US, Mr Roh symbolised South Korea’s progress toward becoming a more liberal and independent democracy. But critics say history will not be so kind to Mr Roh, who left office last year after his five-year term ended.
Often contentious and insecure, he lacked the leadership skills to rally a nation that craved a new political direction. He defied conservative wisdom to pursue more lenient policies toward North Korea, and questioned his own qualifications for the nation’s top political post.
From the start, Mr Roh’s roots were different from those of his presidential predecessors, mostly wealthy men who moved into the realm of national politics.
He was born in 1946 to a farming couple in the rural town of Gimhae. In a book on South Korean politics that includes a chapter on Mr Roh, author Choi Jin wrote that his impoverished childhood shaped his policies as president, such as his drive to raise taxes on the upper middle class.
As a young man, he chose a legal education and later became a human rights lawyer and judge. He eventually entered politics with a strong drive to end regionalism in South Korea.
Mr Roh was unexpectedly elected president in 2002, prevailing by a narrow 2-percentage-point margin of victory.
He won office on a vow to stem the runaway rise in property prices, clean up politics and wrest South Korea’s Blue House from the grip of leaders who represented the interests of big business.
Yet his presidency was marred by missteps. His campaigns to raise taxes and move the nation’s capital out of Seoul failed. Critics say Mr Roh coddled North Korea and barely survived a political campaign to drive him from office on grounds of incompetence.
Still, his administration opened the door for more media freedom, experts say. “He was the first president to allow himself to be mocked – on several occasions he was a figure of fun all around,” said Brian Myers, a political scientist at South Korea’s Dongseo University in Busan.
“You look at current President Lee Myung-bak’s efforts as he desperately tries to get control over the press and the internet, and you appreciate the difference.”
Mr Roh left the presidency in February 2008. Just 14 months later, he was back in the public eye. Authorities alleged that his wife and son had accepted $6 million (€4.29 million) in bribes from a South Korean shoe tycoon, allegedly for preferential treatment on various business projects.
Disgraced, Mr Roh denied the allegations. Yet, in the final weeks of his life, the weight of public scrutiny closed in around him. In an embarrassing public rebuke last month, he was summoned back to Seoul from retirement for an interrogation by investigators.
Prosecutors had been expected to indict Mr Roh in a matter of days. He was the third South Korean president since 1995 to face a corruption investigation after leaving office.
Experts say that Mr Roh died concerned about his legacy. “He may not have known much about his family’s dealings with people trying to gain favours and was ashamed after the relationship came to light,” said Hahm Sung-deuk, a professor of politics at Korea University. “He killed himself to show how ashamed he was.”
On Saturday, police found a hiking boot and a bloodstained jacket at the scene of Mr Roh’s death. They also confiscated a computer, on which Mr Roh’s lawyer said he had left a suicide note.
In his last written words, the one-time political dragon-slayer asked to be cremated and for a small tombstone to be erected near his home. He also left an epitaph of sorts.
"The pain that I caused to so many people is too great. The pain in the coming days is unfathomable," he reportedly wrote. "Don't be sorry. Don't blame anyone. It's destiny." – ( Los Angeles Times-Washington Postservice)