Roh Moo-hyun, 1946-2009
May 25, 2009
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Former President Roh ended his life on May 23, tormented by allegations of corruptions against him and his family.
I won’t go into the pro or cons of President Roh. I left Korea in 1998, so I can’t really take a strong position on his merits or shortcomings. He was an idealist, made impressive strides for a man of a modest background, and I think his heart was in the right place. It seemed that the office of the presidency was too big for him, as he often seemed overwhelmed, and his lack of tact surely didn’t help his cause.
He was the first recent Korean president, however, to make a strong effort to improve Korea’s environment, admittedly was a pretty low bar to cross. He wanted economic development to acknowledge the concerns of conservationists, he tackled policies to improve air quality, improve recycling efforts, and to follow global environmental policies.
President Roh was not a perfect man, but he was cast from a much different mold than his predecessors, and he’ll be missed. 