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Roh Moo-hyun’s Piaget Watch Returns to the Spotlight
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At a National Assembly forum on the abolition of the prosecution held the previous day, Oct. 1, lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said, “The extreme conclusion of abolishing the prosecution came from creating and instilling the ‘Roh Moo-hyun myth’ after former President Roh took his own life.”
He continued, “Democratic Party politicians created a false legend and gaslighted the public into believing that former President Roh was martyred after being subjected to a fabricated investigation by prosecutors,” adding, “The fact that former President Roh himself or his family received Piaget watches worth more than 300 million won from Park Yeon-cha, former chairman of Taekwang Industrial, does not change whether the watches were thrown into a rice paddy or smashed with a hammer.”
The Democratic Party responded with a statement saying, “Former President Roh was questioned as a suspect on April 30, 2009. No arrest warrant was sought. After his death, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department closed the preliminary investigation on June 12 because there was no right to prosecute.”
The party also argued that former first lady Kwon Yang-sook and Roh’s son Roh Gun-ho were questioned only as witnesses and were never indicted. “There was no court ruling,” it added.
Leaving aside whether one takes Han Dong-hoon’s side, the Democratic Party has the “facts” wrong. The reason the Roh Moo-hyun “rice-paddy watch” case was closed and never reached a court was not because the allegations could not be substantiated. It was closed because prosecutors lost the right to prosecute after Roh, the suspect himself, died following the prosecution’s questioning. There was no longer anyone to punish, and because his death was a national tragedy, the case was brought to an end there.
One might even wonder whether the country would have suffered fewer lingering repercussions, and whether we would have seen fewer politicians wearing masks of hypocrisy, had prosecutors, despite the criticism they would have faced, completed the investigation into the alleged receipt of money and valuables and announced their findings separately from Roh’s death, in the interest of the public’s right to know and resolving serious suspicions.
One may criticize the revival of the “rice-paddy watch” controversy as improper treatment of a deceased man who has already left this world. But that is what the factual circumstances show.
If the Democratic Party becomes furious over Han’s remarks and rushes into a confrontation, there is a high likelihood that it will only make itself look foolish. It cannot win. Rather, it would have to confront the truth that Democratic Party politicians and progressive media outlets, which have invoked Roh Moo-hyun’s name for years, played a role—alongside the prosecution—in driving him toward his death. Those who pressured Roh to make a “decision” while he was alive created the “Roh Moo-hyun myth” after his death.
Lee In-gyu, the former head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department who was in charge of the investigation into Roh, wrote in his 2023 memoir:
“Moon Jae-in, who was incompetent as a lawyer, did not resent or criticize the prosecution’s investigation immediately after Roh Moo-hyun’s suicide. But after deciding to enter politics, he abruptly changed course and began attacking the prosecution,” adding that Moon “built an altar of lies over Roh Moo-hyun’s body and became president.”
Lee also wrote, “Attorney Moon Jae-in was incompetent and irresponsible, and this was one of the reasons he failed to prevent Roh Moo-hyun’s death.”
According to Lee, Moon, as Roh’s lawyer, never contacted or visited Lee himself, the official responsible for the investigation, or any member of the investigative team. Nor did he attempt to understand the substance of the investigation and coordinate its direction. He did not submit even a single written opinion presenting facts favorable to Roh or pointing out problems with the investigation.
In particular, Lee said that attorney Moon did not visit former President Roh during the week immediately preceding Roh’s suicide. While it is impossible to accept everything claimed by prosecutors who were arrogant at the time, I believe there is at least some truth in this account.
Below are posts that lawmaker Han Dong-hoon uploaded to social media. Han’s posts are almost entirely correct on the facts.
The Democratic Party officially and strongly criticized me yesterday, calling it an insult to former President Roh Moo-hyun when I said, “It is an undeniable fact that former President Roh himself or his family illegally received two Piaget watches worth 300 million won and tens of millions of won, yet Democratic Party forces have gaslighted the public for the past 20 years by portraying him as a victim of a fabricated investigation.”
Let me say this again to the Democratic Party. It is a “fact” that former President Roh Moo-hyun himself or his family illegally received two Piaget watches worth about 300 million won and tens of millions of won from their sponsor, Park Yeon-cha.
Whether Roh’s side threw the Piaget watches into a rice paddy or smashed them, as was reported at the time based on what appeared to be their own account, does absolutely nothing to obscure the “essence” of the matter: senior public officials must not receive luxury watches worth hundreds of millions of won and tens of millions of won in illegal funds, and anyone who does so should be punished when it is discovered.
The Democratic Party politicians now in office, including its current leader, harshly and explicitly criticized Roh Moo-hyun at the time of the investigation. They did not defend him at all.
Kim Min-seok, the current leader of the Democratic Party, put your hand on your heart and answer. At the time, media outlets sympathetic to the Democratic Party, including the Hankyoreh, even published cruel columns that seemed to urge Roh Moo-hyun toward an extreme choice. Then, when Roh actually took his own life, Democratic Party political forces exploited his death and, for nearly 20 years, created a fictional victim myth portraying Roh as someone destroyed by a fabricated investigation, using it for their own political benefit.
The culmination of the false gaslighting that “Roh Moo-hyun was victimized by a fabricated prosecution investigation, so revenge must be taken” was today’s abolition of the prosecution system itself, opening the gates of hell for the entire nation. The public will suffer.
Ever since former President Roh Moo-hyun took his own life, even within the conservative camp, raising questions about the Roh Moo-hyun myth has been treated as “taboo.” The attitude was that touching Roh Moo-hyun would bring serious trouble. I believe that instead of continuing to avoid an issue everyone has kept quiet about because it is uncomfortable and frightening, we should confront it directly, inform the public and allow the people to judge. That is why I am speaking out.
If the Democratic Party believes what I said about former President Roh Moo-hyun is wrong, then instead of hurling meaningless insults, respond with facts. Now that the Democratic Party has begun speaking, I await its factual rebuttal. That is what productive politics for the public should be.
Is the Democratic Party’s official position really that former President Roh Moo-hyun himself or his family “did not receive” two Piaget watches worth 300 million won and tens of millions of won from their sponsor, Park Yeon-cha? Any official Democratic Party position saying they did not receive them is a lie.
If the Democratic Party is confident in that claim, report me for defaming the dead. Then you will be punished for making a false accusation, because what I said is factual.
The Democratic Party should ask former President Moon Jae-in, who was Roh’s lawyer at the time, and then answer again. Together with the public, I will watch to see whether the Democratic Party continues to lie.
Former President Roh himself never said that the prosecution’s investigation into him was fabricated. Rather, in a statement he personally wrote, Roh acknowledged the facts and apologized to the public, saying, “Money was requested from Park Yeon-cha [from my household] and received.” The Roh Moo-hyun victim myth was not created by Roh himself. It was created by Democratic Party political forces that exploited Roh Moo-hyun.
I am not criticizing former President Roh Moo-hyun now. I am criticizing Democratic Party political forces that attacked Roh during the investigation because they feared being caught up in the scandal themselves—look at what Song Young-gil and others said about Roh—then, after Roh took his own life, created a fictional narrative portraying him as the victim of a fabricated investigation, gaslighted the public for nearly 20 years and profited politically from it, before finally abolishing the prosecution system itself and opening the gates of hell for the public.
Cho Kuk becomes emotional, saying that he and his allies are the chief mourners and threatening that he will not let me get away with this, while being unable to refute the “fact that former President Roh Moo-hyun himself or his family received two Piaget watches worth 300 million won and tens of millions of won from their sponsor, Park Yeon-cha.”
Let me ask Cho Kuk: Is my statement that former President Roh Moo-hyun himself or his family received two Piaget watches worth 300 million won and tens of millions of won from their sponsor, Park Yeon-cha, true or false?
Democratic Party political forces are the chief mourners? After brutally attacking him while he was alive, they changed their positions one by one after his death, appeared as mourners and spent nearly 20 years exploiting the deceased to gaslight the public. I do not think former President Roh Moo-hyun would have liked that very much either.
The prosecution’s investigation into former President Roh Moo-hyun was not fabricated; it was based on facts. Roh himself apologized to the public and did not say that the prosecution’s investigation was fabricated. The “public gaslighting that Roh Moo-hyun was victimized by a fabricated investigation” was not created by Roh. It was a fiction created for their own benefit by Democratic Party political forces that had been among the first to point fingers at Roh at the time because they feared being caught up in the scandal themselves.
The Democratic Party’s 20 years of gaslighting—that abolishing the prosecution system is revenge for Roh Moo-hyun, who was supposedly wronged by a fabricated investigation—is fiction. South Korea must overcome it if it is to have a future.
I strongly recommend reading the related article below as well.
#RohMooHyun #HanDongHoon #ProsecutionReform
* This article has been translated by ChatGPT.