Former South Korean leader Roh commits suicide

Seoul: Thousands streamed to a village in rural South Korea on Sunday to pay their respects to former president Roh Moo-hyun a day after he committed suicide.

Mourners laid white and bowed before a portrait of the 62-year-old former leader at a makeshift memorial outside the 16th-century Deoksu Palace.

Roh, embroiled in a penetrating corruption investigation, hurled himself off a 30 metre high cliff on Saturday while hiking near his home in Bongha.

He had prided himself on being a "clean" leader immune to South Korea's traditional web of corruption.

Roh appeared emotionally wrought last month over allegations he accepted $6 million in bribes from a businessman while in office.

Life had become unbearable and "too many people are suffering because of me," Roh wrote in a note found on his computer, police said.

Roh's suicide stunned the nation. At train stations and shopping malls across the country, South Koreans were glued to TV monitors.

Many snapped up special newspaper editions about Roh. Tens of thousands flooded his website, many posting condolences.

Roh is survived by his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, son Roh Gun-ho and daughter Roh Jeong-yeon. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.