Prominent South Korean politician commits suicide
Yonhap reports that Roh Hoe-chan leapt to his death from a building after leaving a suicide note saying he felt sorry to his family
A prominent South Korean lawmaker who was being probed over a bribery scandal has committed suicide, police said Monday.
Roh Hoe-chan, a three-term lawmaker of the left-leaning Justice Party had been under investigation for allegedly receiving 50 million won (US$44,300) from a powerful political blogger linked to many top politicians.
The blogger, widely known by his online nickname “Druking”, is currently on trial for using illegal hacking programmes to sway public opinion on Naver, the South’s top online portal.
“Druking” is accused of artificially increasing the number of positive responses – the equivalent of Facebook’s “Like” function – to tens of thousands of online comments on Naver that attacked or supported politicians or political parties in a bid to win personal favours.
In a suicide note left in a Seoul flat, Roh admitted he had received money from the blogger, but denied he had offered any favour in return, the Yonhap news agency said.
He had been expected to be summoned soon by prosecutors for questioning.