Moon Jae-in calls for unity at Roh Moo-hyun’s memorial

BONGHA/ SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday bid farewell to his lifelong friend and mentor -- former President Roh Moo-hyun -- for now, at a memorial ceremony for the late liberal icon, who was admired by some and loathed by others.

Fulfilling his pledge to honor Roh’s death as the nation’s president, Moon said it would be his last time attending the memorial during his term, gesturing at moving away from the deep division over the former leader who committed suicide eight years ago.

“I am deeply thankful that I was able to keep the promise I made during the election season that I should attend today’s memorial ceremony as president,” said Moon in his memorial address.

“This is to be the last time that I attend your memorial ceremony as president. I promise I will return to see you, after completing my mission as a successful president,” said the president, vowing to carry on the legacy of the Roh administration.

The event was held in the late Roh’s retirement home of Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang Province, marking eight years since he jumped to his death amid a corruption investigation, which some claimed as being politically motivated by the succeeding conservative administration, on May 23, 2009.

It was eight years ago this day at 10:50 a.m. that Moon, then a lawyer and retired presidential aide, delivered the news of the tragedy to reporters at Pusan National University Hospital.

This year, the memorial day attracted the largest crowd ever, with some 15,000 participating in the ceremony and 50,000 visiting the village as of 4 p.m., according to officials of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation.

Though the official ceremony started at 2 p.m., citizens dressed in formal black suits with a touch of yellow -- Roh’s signature color -- flocked to Bongha from early in the morning to pay their respects to the late state chief.

“We took an early morning express train from Seoul to meet both Roh and Moon,” Jeong Bok-deuk, 72, told The Korea Herald.

Her friend Kang Gwang-sook, added that it was “delightful yet painful” to commemorate Roh’s death this year.

Families, especially parents with young children, were spotted waiting hours under the afternoon sun to pay their respects.

“Today is different from (the memorials in the) previous years. This huge crowd is a bit of a chaos but (the experience) still is fulfilling,” said Park Nam-jin, a father who was pushing his baby daughter’s stroller.

“I feel as if the huge weight that had piled up in the past decade of conservative administrations has finally been lifted off my shoulders.”

Around the site of the event and all throughout the village were banners by Roh supporters, congratulating Moon on his rise to presidency and expressing hope that he would achieve the unfinished mission of his predecessor.

Among the political figures who showed up to pay respects were National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and Secretary-General Woo Yoon-keun, as well as the leadership members of Moon’s Democratic Party of Korea, the minority conservative Bareun Party and the progressive Justice Party.

The main conservative Liberty Korea Party’s chief Rep. Chung Woo-taik, however, refused to attend and sent the party’s secretary-general instead, hinting at disapproval over the occasion.

In the later part of the ceremony, the participants sang alongto “March for the Beloved,” a song symbolic of the democratic spirit and of the 1980 uprising in Gwangju. It was President Moon’s decision that the song, which has long remained in dispute due to backlash from conservatives, should officially be sung in unison to mark the democratization movement.

After the ceremony, Moon moved to Roh’s grave where he paid a silent tribute before bidding farewell to the bereaved family and aides.

During his speech, the president reiterated his earlier pledge to “eradicate accumulated evils” and to restore decency in the nation.

“Since Roh’s fall, our society and politics have retrogressed into the abnormal, growing away from the people’s hope. But his dreams have been revived by the power of the citizens, and from now own, we shall never fail again,” Moon said.

He then shifted his focus to unity, gesturing at moving away from the factional disputes which have long divided the conservative and the progressive, the pro-Roh and the non-Roh, the ruling party and the opposition.

“This is to be the last time that I attend this event as a standing president,” Moon said, vowing to keep away from the yearly memorial ceremony during the rest of his five-year term.

“I promise that I will return to see you, after completing my duty as a successful president.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com) and Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)