Roh Moo-hyun << noh moo hyuhn >> (1946-2009) was president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008. In his first year as president, Roh faced many problems. They included a decline in the economy, a corruption scandal involving some of his aides, and frequent criticism from his political opponents and the media. In March 2004, he was impeached (accused of wrongdoing) by the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature. The Assembly, which was controlled by Roh’s political opponents, charged him with election law violations and incompetence. However, in May, the Korean Constitutional Court rejected the impeachment, saying the charges either lacked merit or were not serious enough to justify impeachment. Roh, who had been temporarily replaced by the prime minister, then returned to office.
Roh Moo-hyun was born on Aug. 6, 1946, to a farming family in a village near Busan (also spelled Pusan) at the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. His formal education ended with high school in 1966. After studying law on his own, Roh passed the Korean bar examination in 1975 and began to practice law. He eventually specialized in labor and human rights cases. Roh was a leader of the June Struggle, a protest in June 1987 demanding greater political freedom in South Korea.
Roh entered politics in 1988, winning a seat in the National Assembly. He served a single four-year term, failing to be reelected for a second term in 1992. He won a new two-year term in the legislature in 1998. During the presidency of Kim Dae-jung from 1998 to 2003, Roh served briefly as minister of maritime affairs and fisheries.
Roh was the candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) in the 2002 presidential election. He promised domestic reforms to prevent political corruption. He also pledged to make changes in South Korea’s foreign relations, including more contact with North Korea and less dependence on the United States.
Roh quit the MDP in September 2003 because many of his supporters in the legislature had left the MDP to create the reform-oriented Uri Party (UP). The UP won a majority of seats in the National Assembly election of April 2004. Roh officially joined the UP the following month. He ended his own life on May 23, 2009.
