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Victims of 'The Attorney' visit their forlorn hero
Victims of "Burim” incident of 1981 visited the late former president Rho Moo-hyun's grave in Bongha Village on Tuesday. / Courtesy of OhMyNews
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
Rho Moo-hyun as the "Human Rights Advocate" at the time of “Burim” incident
Survivors of the victims dramatized in the Korean blockbuster “The Attorney” visited their hero’s grave to pay their respect about the time the true story-based movie garnered over 10 million viewers, sources said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, 11 survivors from the “Burim” incident of 1981 were gathered at the tomb immortalizing the former President Roh Moo-hyun, who killed himself in May 2009. It is located in Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.
It was the first time the entire group of survivors, now in their 50s and 60s, posed to embrace the president’s spirit at the same time and place.
“You were our lawyer before becoming president,” said Ko Ho-seok, the survivors’ representative, according to the sources.
“It saddens us to see the very democracy we had built is now under threat.”
Ko pleaded to the fallen soul he won’t let democracy perish in Korea and wished him to rest in peace, the sources added.
Footage from "The Attorney"
After the 15 minute-long tear-jerking worship, the victims had an off-the-record meeting with Roh’s wife, Kwon Yang-sook.
According to the sources, the former first lady told them not to be sorry for her, saying her husband wouldn’t have become the president if it weren’t for his dedication to being “the attorney” for the then falsely-accused victims.
Burim incident occurred when the former President Chun Doo-hwan’s regime arrested without warrants 22 students, teachers and office workers from ordinary book clubs on fabricated charges of being North Korea sympathizers.
As attested from the movie, those incarcerated faced bloody tortures as secret service agents forced them to spill false confessions on the charges.
Roh, then an active lawyer in Busan, formed a legal team with his allies to defend the arrested individuals against the government, earning himself the reverent nickname “Human Rights Advocate.”