Former South Korean President in apparent suicide
Updated
South Koreans are in still shock, following the apparent suicide of former President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday.
Mr Roh, aged 62, was killed in a fall from a mountain near his home. President Lee Myung-bak said the news was "truly unbelievable and deeply sad". World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon offered their condolences to Roh's family and the South Korean people. Investigations are continuing, but Mr Roh left what's thought to be a suicide note to his family.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr David Hundt at Deakin University in Melbourne
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LAM: David, many South Koreans were visibly moved by Roh Moo hyun's death. Were you shocked, when you first heard the news?
HUNDT: Absolutely. It must be remembered that President Roh was South Korea's leader until just over a year ago. So it's er.. we're used to former leaders passing on in one way, shape or form, but to have such a recent resident of the highest office in the land to die in such spectacular circumstances, is certainly shocking.
LAM: What will he be remembered for, Roh Moo-hyun?
HUNDT: Well, in many ways, he was a self-styled 'change candidate' if I may use that term. A revolutionary figure. He certainly introduced a new style of politics to the Blue House - to the leadership there. He was the President who questioned if you like, some long-standing tenets or long-standing conventions in South Korean politics. He intensified the policy of engagement towards North Korea, but he also took a more questioning attitude towards the American alliance too.
LAM: And of course in the lead up to his death, Roh Moo-Hyun was also very troubled by corruption allegations surrounding his family. But suicide is a pretty desperate act, so things were pretty rough for him in the past few months?
HUNDT: It seems so. More so than perhaps we realised. Certainly from what we surmised, from what we know, he took the charges of corruption really quite badly. He saw that in himself was a different figure from before, and different in a good sense, as far as he was concerned. So to be tainted with that smear of corruption, it would've been a devastating blow to him, I'm sure.
LAM: Do you think the allegations were all the more galling, given that Roh Moo-hyun when he came into office had a very clean reputation for being an unblemished politician?
HUNDT: Oh absolutely. It was one of his points of distinction. Certainly in his eyes and in his supporters. I guess in the eyes of his supporters, well at least he wasn't corrupt. He might not have been the most competent President, he might not have achieved what he set out to do, but at least he wasn't corrupt. And so, within twelve months of leaving office, to be sort of facing these charges, would have been devastating for him, there's no doubt about that.
LAM: Indeed. And as you mentioned earlier, he continued the Sunshine Policies of his predecessor Kim Dae-Jung. Do you think this might have any impact on domestic politics, on the hardline policies of incumbent President Lee Myung-bak, towards the North?
HUNDT: It's going to be interesting to see how it does affect the rest of President Lee's term. If one of the charges against former president Roh was that his policy was somehow wrong-headed, in terms of North Korean policy or in terms of the American alliance, I guess you'll have to say what's the alternative. What would he have done differently? And of course, the other charge against him was on the economic front - that he didnt manage the economy properly. But twelve months on, from the new President's term, you could say, that if there has been a divergence in policy, the new President's taken a different line, well, it's hardly produced stellar results and perhaps in hindsight, President Roh's policies won't look as bad as they were made out to be.
