SEOUL, Oct. 26 (BNA): Former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, a veteran who played a pivotal but controversial role in the transition to democratic elections from the rule of authoritarian leaders, has died, a Seoul hospital confirmed.
An official with Seoul National University Hospital said the 88-year-old died on Tuesday, without giving a cause of death, according to Reuters.
Roh has been in poor health since 2002 when he underwent surgery for prostate cancer and was hospitalized repeatedly in recent years.
Within a few decades, Roh transformed from a military coup plotter to South Korea’s first popularly elected president, before ending his political career in disgrace with a prison sentence for treason and corruption.
“I am now infinitely ashamed of being a former president,” Roh told the audience in a tearful televised apology in 1995 for secretly raising $654 million in loose money while in office.
HF