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May 29, 2009
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| Various shades of yellow will blanket the Gwanghwamun area of downtown Seoul today in honor of the late President Roh Moo-hyun. Roh’s supporters often used the color in a symbolic fashion during his successful presidential campaign. Today, they’ll break out the yellow balloons, flowers and ribbons to honor Roh one last time during a street marching ceremony after the official funeral service at Gyeongbok Palace. The funeral procession will begin at 5:30 a.m., when a black hearse carrying Roh’s coffin departs for Seoul from his hometown of Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang. Roh’s body has lain in state in Bongha since his death after leaping off a cliff last Saturday. Police cars and motorcycles will escort the hearse and a bus carrying surviving family members to the east gate of the historic royal palace. More than 3,000 former and current heads of state, politicians, foreign delegations and surviving family members are expected to gather in the palace’s front yard to bid him farewell during the people’s funeral, which begins at 11 a.m. and is scheduled to last just over an hour. President Lee Myung-bak and former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam will also attend. A funeral organizing committee - which is co-headed by current Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook who served while Roh was in office - will preside at the service. Public Administration and Security Minister Lee Dal-gon will speak briefly about Roh’s personal life. That will be followed by the funeral address, to be given by Han Seung-soo and Han Myeong-sook. Buddhist, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Won Buddhist religious services will follow. A video clip looking back on Roh’s life - from his birth to his rise in politics to his retirement years - will be played. Delegates will then offer white chrysanthemums. A 21-gun salute will conclude the funeral. A traditional funeral procession, led by Roh’s funeral car, follows at 1 p.m. and is scheduled to last 30 minutes. The procession will move down Sejongno, a broad avenue in Gwanghwamun leading to Seoul City Hall. At the same time, an unofficial tribute and memorial ceremony will take place at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall. Entertainers, poets and other celebrities, as well as ordinary citizens carrying yellow balloons, will gather to sing Roh’s favorite songs. The funeral procession will then move toward Seoul Station heading to Suwon , Gyeonggi, where Roh will be cremated at 3 p.m. The cremation process takes about two hours, according to Roh’s aides. Roh’s ashes will be place in an urn that will be transported from Suwon to Bongha at 9 p.m. His urn will be placed temporarily at Jeongtowon Temple at 10 p.m. Cheon Ho-seon, who served as Roh’s Blue House spokesman, said Roh’s ashes will not be buried in the designated burial site until his surviving family marks 49 days after his death. By Kim Mi-ju, Kim Gyeong-jin [mijukim@joongang.co.kr] |
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