Roh Moo-hyun

Roh Moo-hyun (1946 to 2009) was a South Korean attorney and politician who served as the ninth President of South Korea from 2003 to 2008. Born into a poor farming family near Gimhae, he passed the bar examination in 1975 without a university degree, worked briefly as a judge, and then became a lawyer who defended students tortured under authoritarian rule, which gave his early career a human rights focus. His later politics centred on overcoming regionalism, and he won the 2002 presidential election narrowly with strong support from younger internet users and from the so-called 386 Generation. In office he left the Millennium Democratic Party to help found the Uri Party, survived an impeachment vote in 2004 that the Constitutional Court overturned, pursued free trade agreements against opposition from his own leftist base, and met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in 2007. His approval ratings were low during the term but rose after he left office. He died on 23 May 2009 after prosecutors suspected him of bribery.