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May 28, 2009
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The South Gyeongsang Provincial Police is reinvestigating the death after conflicting statements from the bodyguard who said he accompanied Roh during his last journey to the mountain in Bongha Village. The bodyguard originally said he had witnessed Roh’s last moment alive. He now says he was off on an errand. The bodyguard’s original testimony was challenged by other witnesses, leading to the reinvestigation. After a day-long interrogation, police said the bodyguard admitted he was away when Roh fell from a 30-meter (98.4-foot) cliff, said Lee Wun-wu, chief of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency. According to Lee, Roh had sent the bodyguard to a nearby temple. “We believe that the former president jumped off from the cliff sometime between 6:14 and 6:17 a.m. on Saturday,” Lee said. Lee said that at 6:14 a.m. Roh sent the bodyguard to Jeongtowon Temple where mortuary tablets remembering Roh’s deceased parents are enshrined. When the bodyguard returned three minutes later, Roh was nowhere to be found. The bodyguard discovered Roh’s body at 6:45 a.m., Lee said. On Saturday, the police had said Roh had jumped off from the cliff around 6:45 a.m. “For those 31 minutes, Roh was not under the protection of the bodyguard,” Lee said. After discovering Roh’s body, the bodyguard telephoned the former president’s other bodyguards to prepare a car. He then checked Roh’s body for injuries and carried the former president over his shoulder to a nearby area, police said. The bodyguard performed CPR twice and then took Roh to Seyeong Hospital, according to the revised chronology. Roh was subsequently moved to the Pusan National University Hospital in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang. He died at 9:30 a.m. “We are trying our best to lay bare the truth about Roh’s death to answer all questions,” police said. Police say the bodyguard initially lied under extreme psychological pressure. The bodyguard was worried about his failure to protect the former president, police said. “He, however, changed his mind and provided the new, accurate account about the incident,” police said. Because of the shifting stories, rumors spread fast in cyberspace that Roh’s death might have been a homicide. “It is an insult to the late president,” said Cheon Ho-seon, who served as the Roh Blue House’s spokesman. “It is unacceptable that groundless speculation is spreading.” The Blue House’s Presidential Security Service said yesterday that it will reinvestigate the case after they wrap up their end of the case. The 20 bodyguards protecting Roh, including the one who had accompanied the former president to the mountain on Saturday, were members of the Presidential Security Service. According to the service, the agents were not under the Blue House team’s command, although necessary assistance was provided to Roh’s bodyguards when there was a need. “Because the police were in charge of the investigation, the Presidential Security Service did not conduct any probe,” the service said yesterday. The service said the Bongha Village team informed the Blue House around 7:10 a.m. on Saturday about the incident. President Lee Myung-bak was briefed 10 minutes later, and a helicopter was dispatched to Gimhae in case Roh had to be moved to Seoul for further medical treatment. Meanwhile, Lee’s spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said yesterday that President Lee will attend the funeral ceremony for Roh at Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul, on Friday. By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr] |
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