National funeral for Roh due today

The national funeral service for late former President Roh Moo-hyun will be at 11 a.m. today at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul.

The former president, 62, committed suicide Saturday morning near his retirement home in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.

The official funeral will start as the funeral cortege carrying Roh`s coffin enters the front yard of the ancient palace.

President Lee Myung-bak is expected to attend, as are other former presidents, several ministers, lawmakers and foreign delegates, plus Roh`s family and close aides.



Lee Dal-gon, minister of public administration and security, will offer a brief personal history of Roh, followed by funeral speeches by current Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.

A video showing images of Roh, such as his inaugural oath in 2003 will be screened.

Starting with President Lee, Roh`s bereaved family members and other guests will offer white chrysanthemums before Roh`s portrait to pay farewell.

The official funeral service will end with a volley of firings.

A limousine carrying Roh`s coffin will then move to Seoul Plaza in front of the city hall for a mourning event, which will start at 1 p.m.

After the service, Roh`s body will be cremated at a crematorium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on the way back to his hometown village.

His ashes will be placed at a small temple where the memorial tablets of his late parents are enshrined for 49 days, before being buried on a hill near his residence.

A seemingly endless stream of mourners poured into Bongha village where Roh`s body had been kept. Some of them spent the night attending the rite of carrying the coffin out of the mortuary, which was early this morning before the official funeral service in Seoul.

Earlier, former first lady Kwon Yang-sook offered her first white chrysanthemum to her husband since his passing and expressed her gratitude to visiting mourners and volunteers from all over the country.

Roh`s son Gun-ho and daughter Jeong-yeon - rarely seen during the mourning period - also greeted mourners on the last day before the funeral.

There were more calls of condolences offered by international figures.

In her message to President Lee Myung-bak, Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, expressed her respects to the late president yesterday.

"His political efforts to foster peace and stability in the region and around the world will not be forgotten. President Roh also brought fresh momentum to cooperation with Germany and the European Union," she wrote, adding her condolences to Roh`s family and Korean people.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his wife Yoo Soon-taek visited the Korean Consulate General in New York to pay respects to the late president.

"Former President Roh has made a huge contribution to the nation`s diplomatic development by taking an independent, practical diplomatic paradigm and forming various partnerships with other countries," said the former foreign minister during Roh`s tenure.

"I hope his passing to be an opportunity for Koreans to work together in this time of the global economic crisis," Ban added.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also visited the South Korean Embassy in Washington early Thursday morning to also offer tribute to the former president.

By Lee Ji-yoon



(jylee@heraldm.com)