Ex-president's suicide leaves S. Korea with questions about its leaders The suicide of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, days before he was expected to be indicted in an influence-peddling inquiry, has left the nation grappling with new and troubling questions about the moral character of its elected leaders. Roh Moo-hyun, known as Mr. Clean, was the target of a corruption inquiry. He leaves behind the legacy of a flawed leader perhaps too human for the righteous agenda he swore to pursue. By John M. Glionna 12:54 PM PDT, May 23, 2009 Reporting from Seoul - 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 today 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 Center 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." 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. With his emphasis on national sovereignty and independence from superpowers such as the United States, supporters say, Roh symbolized South Korea's progress toward becoming a more liberal and independent democracy. But critics say history will not be so kind to 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, Roh's roots were different from that 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 Roh, author Choi Jin wrote that Roh's impoverished childhood shaped his policies as president, such as his drive to raise taxes on the upper middle class. "His childhood is full of a sense of inferiority and anger and resistance," Choi wrote. "His mother was full of rancor for being left out [of society] in a mountain village." In his book, Choi asserted that Roh's upbringing left him questioning the limits of government authority. Roh preferred group decision-making, a habit of delegating authority that may have helped doom him in the end, critics say. 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. 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 real estate 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 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." 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 in bribes from a South Korean shoe tycoon, allegedly for preferential treatment on various business projects. Disgraced, 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 were expected to indict 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 Roh died concerned about his legacy. "He may not have known much about his family's dealings with people trying to gain favors 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." Others don't see Roh as a victim. "I don't think anyone will believe for a minute this wife was taking all that money and he knew absolutely nothing about it," Myers said. Guilty or not, Roh may have found the appearance of impropriety too much to bear. "I suppose that this image of morality and public trust may have been a huge burden," said Kim Kwang-dong, head of South Korea's Nara Policy Institute. "Because now the nation realized that once a symbol of protest and ethics person, Roh was no different from conventional politicians." Today police found a hiking boot and a bloodstained jacket at the scene of Roh's death. They also confiscated a computer, on which Roh's lawyer said he left a suicide note. In his last written words, the onetime 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." [email protected]