Fri, June 05, 2009
SEOUL, June 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korean police said Friday that they have terminated the investigation on former President Roh Moo-hyun's death case with a conclusion that he had committed suicide.
"We have terminated our investigation after concluding that former President Roh Moo-hyun died after jumping from a 45-meter cliff, known as Owl's Rock on Mount Bonhwa," police in South Gyeongsang Province was quoted as saying.
According to the police, a suicide note found on his home computer was convincing evidence that the former president had taken his own life, while some changes have been made to the details surrounding his death along the in-depth investigation.
Former President Roh was concluded to have jumped off the cliff between local time 6:14 and 6:17 a.m., May 23 (2114-2117 GMT, May 22) while his guard was sent to a nearby temple on an errand, the police said.
The ex-president was found below the cliff around 6:51 a.m., May 23 (2151 GMT, May 22), the police added.
The police also said Roh's family did not object to the outcome of the probe.
The guard, although he failed to provide the former president with a full escort at all times as his job description, will not be prosecuted as it was not intentional, according to the police.
Ex-president Roh, who served as president from 2003-2008, died at the age of 62 while the prosecutors charged Roh with a "bribery scandal," which many of his supporters called "political persecution."
