President’s final moments

Former president Roh Moo-hyun’s tumultuous life of 63 years came to an end Saturday with his unexpected and tragic death, and details of his final moments have been revealed.

According to aides, police and close acquaintances who were with Roh the day he died, the former president wrote a will on his computer at around 5:10 a.m. before setting out for a morning walk on the hill behind his home in Bongha, South Gyeongsang.

He eventually jumped off a cliff at the top of a formation known as Owl Rock at just before 7 a.m. Aides rushed him to a hospital nearby, and he was later transferred to Pusan National University Hospital. Roh was finally declared dead around 9:30 a.m. The cause of death was head injuries sustained from the fall.

The will Roh wrote filled just one single A4 page, which he left open on his computer. It was last saved at 5:21 a.m., while police estimated the will was written around 5:10. About half an hour later, at 5:45 a.m., Roh left his residence with Lee Byeong-choon, his senior security agent, and started to hike up Mount Bonghwa, a 140.4-meter (459-foot) hill behind his home.

About 50 minutes later, Roh and Lee arrived at Owl Rock, which stands in the middle of the hill about 100 meters high. A steep cliff stretches about 20 to 30 meters down from Owl Rock, and the peak offers a full view of the garden of Roh’s residence.

The security agent offered his account of Roh’s final moments. Lee said Roh sat at Owl Rock for about 20 minutes, chatting casually. Roh even asked if owls still visit the rock, and if that was why it gained that name among the locals. Then Roh asked Lee if he had a cigarette. Lee answered, “No. Should I go down and get one for you?”

But Roh replied, “No. No need.”

Spotting other people walking below the hill, the president said to Lee, “Hey, there are some people passing by.” Lee said that when he turned away to look, Roh suddenly jumped from the cliff. It was about 6:40 a.m.

“Former President Roh was suddenly acting strangely, so I called out to him, ‘Mr. President!’ and tried to grab him, but he was already gone,” Lee later told police. Lee was usually the only security agent to accompany Roh on his casual walks around the village.

The police later found a pair of trekking shoes and a bloodstained shirt belonging to Roh at the base of the cliff. Lee immediately called other security agents at the residence, and together they took Roh to a car and drove to Seyoung Hospital in Gimhae, about 4 kilometers away.

When they arrived at about 7 a.m. Roh had no pulse and was unconscious, suffering severe head trauma. The doctors at Seyoung tried CPR with the use of a defibrillator for about 30 minutes, but Roh did not regain consciousness.

At around 7:35 a.m., the emergency medical team and the security agents took Roh to an ambulance, which arrived at the larger Pusan National University Hospital in Yangsan, about 50 kilometers away, at 8:13 a.m.

“There was no sign of recovery and it was a very urgent situation, so we didn’t have time to take a look at other injuries,” said Son Chang-bae, one of the senior doctors at Seyoung who attempted to resuscitate Roh. Dr. Son refused to give more details.

The team continued trying to restart Roh’s heart on their way to Yangsan.

“He was unconscious and not breathing on his own. We detected no pulse on the heart rate monitor,” said Dr. Baek Seung-wan, the president of Pusan National University Hospital. Roh remained unconscious despite constant CPR.

“We found skull fractures, and concluded the head injuries were the major cause of death,” said Baek. He also said doctors found other major injuries on Roh’s body, including a broken spine, broken ribs and a fractured right ankle. The doctors stopped performing CPR on Roh at around 9:30 a.m. and declared him dead.

Kwon Yang-sook, Roh’s wife, arrived at the hospital around 9:25 p.m., and collapsed crying after hearing of his death. The former first lady was admitted. Roh’s body was placed in the morgue at Pusan National at around 10:50 a.m. By then, the local media had already learned of Roh’s death.

Dr. Baek and Moon Jae-in, former Blue House chief of staff under Roh, held a brief press briefing at 11 a.m. and announced his death. At about 12:20 a.m., an autopsy was performed on Roh by Huh Gi-yeong, a forensic expert at Pusan National University, in the presence of attorney Jung Jae-sung and several other lawyers as well as district attorneys and senior police officers.

The autopsy concluded Roh’s death was caused by the head injuries and other related organ damage.

By Lim Ju-ri, Jung Ha-won [hawon@joongang.co.kr]