Packs of cigarettes offered by mourners are stacked on the memorial altar for former President Roh Moo-hyun in his hometown, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. / Korea Times |
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
At memorial services, people sometimes offer up items which the deceased liked, or wanted to have, during their life. In the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's case, it was a cigarette.
Some mourners gingerly lit up a cigarette and offered it to the late President at memorial altars in his hometown in southeastern Bongha Village and other locations across the nation.
Their offerings of lit cigarettes instead of laying flowers or burning incense were prompted by the news that Roh asked for a smoke from a security guard before killing himself.
At the top of a cliff in a mountain behind his home, Roh asked the guard if he had a cigarette. The guard said no and asked if he wanted him to get one.
The former President said he didn't have to. Mourners are apparently feeling sorry for him because he couldn't smoke at the last moment of his life.
Roh used to be a heavy smoker, going through more than two packs of cigarettes a day. He quit smoking in October 2001, but about a year later, began to smoke again as his approval rate for the presidential candidacy was only around 10 percent.
After taking office, he sometimes asked presidential staff for cigarettes when having troubles in political and government affairs. He promised to quit smoking several times following his wife's reproach, but could not quit completely.
Early morning on April 30 before heading to Seoul to be questioned over his bribery allegation, Roh smoked two cigarettes. Just before being questioned at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, he had another cigarette, his aides said.
``He liked `This' cigarettes, a relatively cheap brand. He used to smoke them to the end, almost to the filter, saying stopping in the middle was wasteful,'' an aide said.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
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