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Staff Reporter
Rev. Kang Hee-nam, who led a progressive movement in the 1990s, was found dead Saturday in an apparent suicide at his house in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.
Kang, 89, was reportedly found by his wife in the boiler room after hanging himself.
He left a note in which he purportedly urged the Korean people to stand up against the Lee Myung-bak administration, police said.
Kang was formerly co-leader of the Pan-National Alliance for the Reunification of Korea, or Beomminnyon, established in 1990.
Leading the group for nearly a decade, Kang was jailed three times. In July 1994, he was charged for attempting to cross the inter-Korean border to express his condolences over the death of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea.
Most recently, Kang staged a nine-day hunger strike last month to protest the government's hawkish stance toward Pyongyang.
A funeral ceremony will be held in Seoul, Wednesday, before his cremation in Jeonju.
hckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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