By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The death of former President Roh Moo-hyun will have a sizable impact not only to the political arena but also to ongoing prosecutors' investigation on the bribe scandal allegedly involving the late president, said political observers Saturday.
Before passing away, Roh and his wife were under investigation for taking $6 million from a businessman and prosecutors were scheduled to announce whether they will seek a arrest warrant for the former president or not sometime early next month.
Political observers, Roh's supporters and experts speculated that the late president, who described himself as a clean leader, would have felt considerable pressure because of the investigation, and that this might have led him to seek ``the last resort.''
They forecast that President Lee Myung-bak, the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and the prosecution would suffer the grave consequences of the death of the former president, who has had many supporters even after retirement.
The late president's Web site and the home page of his fan club, dubbed Nosamo, were inaccessible as a swarm of bloggers and Internet users tried to log on to them after his death was reported.
A backlash against President Lee already came from Roh supporters.
Some Roh supporters alleged President Lee was responsible for Roh's death as the investigation allegedly drove the former president to commit suicide.
Residents in Bongha village, who were in shock, blamed Lee, prosecutors and even media for the investigation and what they called flawed coverage.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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