I Sense a Great Disturbance in the Force
This just had to happen: Roh’s bodyguard has changed his story:
It was confirmed that there was no bodyguard present when the former President Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide on May 23. Accordingly, police have launched a reinvestigation of what the former president was doing on the day of suicide.
“It may be that the bodyguard sent by the Cheong Wa Dae was not present when the former president threw himself from “˜Owl Rock,'” an official of the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) said on Tuesday. “The bodyguard failed to find him and created a false story,” the official added.
A police official said, “The bodyguard has changed his account of his whereabouts several times, and we have summoned him again to the South Gyungsang Police Agency for further questioning.
The police have secured the content of a radio communications report to the Cheong Wa Dae in which the bodyguard said, “I missed him. I cannot see him. Another police official confirmed the content, but said, “We do not know when the radio communication took place. We will find that out through further investigation. [The Hankyoreh]
My wife has since debriefed me on the conspiracy rumors that are now breeding in Korean cyberspace like fruit flies in a jar, and they’re something sickeningly familiar about the sound of them. I predicted (scroll down to the bottom) that it was just a matter of time before someone said the CIA was behind it, but I did not predict that it would start here.
And — to ensure a dignified atmosphere and to guarantee that civil unrest could not possibly ensue — they’ve moved Roh’s funeral service to downtown Seoul on Friday. My advice: bring a gas mask. Even before this news came out, Korea’s far left had, in a fit of irresponsible exploitation, called Roh’s suicide “murder.” One can already see the determination in some quarters to exploit this, and if there’s any truth to reports that North Korea has mobilized its Fifth Column in the South, they will.
The North says, “Lies! All lies!” But whether there’s anything to these particular rumors, there’s little question that the North has infiltrated itself deeply into South Korea’s left, particularly the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Democratic Labor Party, and the radical student organization Hanchongryon. Start on Page 12 if you want more.
In his suicide note, Roh had asked to be cremated. The interests of South Korea’s social order may demand that those wishes be deferred. Some of the rumors my wife repeated to me revolve around the condition of Roh’s body and the consistency of his injuries with a fall. If so, President Lee should order an autopsy by an independent and respected medical examiner.
It would be the last bitter irony of Roh Moo Hyun’s time on this earth if his supporters and benefactors use his death as an engine of chaos.