Partisan rivals gather to mark 15th anniversary of late president's death

Politics

Published: 23 May. 2024, 17:30

Partisan rivals gather to mark 15th anniversary of late president's death

From left: New Future Party leader Lee Seok-hyun, Progressive Party Secretary General Yoon Hee-suk, Progressive Party leader Kim Jun-woo, Democratic Party (DP) floor leader Park Chan-dae, DP leader Lee Jae-myung, People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Hwang Woo-yea and PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho lay wreaths at the grave of late President Roh Moo-hyun at Bonghwa Village, South Gyeongsang, on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of his death. [NEWS1]

Politicians from across party lines gathered on Thursday at the birthplace and resting place of late President Roh Moo-hyun in South Gyeongsang for a ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of his death.

The ceremony, hosted annually by the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation at Bonghwa Village, was attended by members of Roh’s family, former President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, liberal Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, conservative People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Hwang Woo-yea, PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk and former South Gyeongsang governor Kim Kyung-soo, among others.

President Yoon sent a wreath of flowers through Hong Chul-ho, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, who attended the memorial service in his stead to offer condolences to Roh's family.

Roh served as president from 2003 to 2008. He took his own life by jumping from a cliff in his hometown on May 23, 2009, 24 days after being questioned by prosecutors about a bribery scandal implicating his relatives and 15 months after leaving the Blue House.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Lee vowed to lead the DP as “a party for the masses, by the masses” and to “follow the path laid out during the era of participatory government,” referring to Roh’s mantra encouraging people to participate in the decision-making process for national affairs.

But Cho — a former justice minister whose rising political star suffered a heavy blow when he and his wife were prosecuted and later convicted of fabricating the academic achievements of their son and daughter to give them a leg up in university admissions — had harsh words for the state prosecution service, which he said was responsible for Roh’s demise.

Referring to “prosecutors who hounded President Roh,” Cho promised a “complete reform of the state prosecution service” in the 22nd National Assembly, which is set to convene at the end of the month.

The DP, the successor of Roh’s Uri Party, won 175 legislative seats through the April 10 general election. Cho’s Rebuilding Korea Party also won 12 seats through proportional representation, making it a formidable player in parliamentary politics.

Politicians from across the aisle observe a moment of silence at a ceremony commemorating former President Roh Moo-hyun on the 15th anniversary of his death at his gravesite in Bonghwa Village, South Gyeongsang, on Thursday. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stands second from left in the front row, while former President Moon Jae-in and former first lady Kim Jung-sook stand fifth and fourth from right. [NEWS1]

Following the ceremony, Hwang and Choo met with former President Moon, who lives nearby in retirement at Pyeongsan Village in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang.

The meeting between the PPP officials and Moon was arranged by his wife, former first lady Kim Jung-sook, who also attended Thursday’s ceremony and is the target of calls for a special counsel probe by some PPP members for her solo visit to India in 2018.

On Wednesday, PPP spokesman Jang Dong-hyeok criticized the former president for claiming in his recently published memoir that Delhi had invited Kim to visit, contradicting the Korean Foreign Ministry’s position that the Moon administration proposed the idea after his planned state visit had fallen through.

Jang also called for a special counsel probe into the allegations against Kim and demanded that the former president and first lady issue a public apology.

PPP Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Na Kyung-won also called for an investigation into the former first lady’s India trip in separate radio broadcasts on Wednesday.

The PPP’s demand for a special counsel probe into Kim came after the DP vowed to push again to pass a similar investigation into the Yoon administration’s alleged interference in a military inquest examining the drowning of a young Marine corporal during a search and rescue mission for victims of flooding last summer.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]