Unanswered Questions Hang Over Roh's Last Minutes

As new questions are raised over the last minutes of former president Roh Moo-hyun's life, calls are growing for police to reinvestigate his death last Saturday from scratch. It now appears that the bodyguard who earlier claimed to have been with Roh was not actually at the scene.

Based on the bodyguard's initial testimony, a 94-man investigative team at South Gyeongsang Province police announced Sunday that Roh arrived at Owl Rock around 6:20 a.m., talked with Lee Byung-choon, the head of his security detail, for about 20 minutes, and jumped off the cliff at around 6:45 a.m.

But an official at a nearby temple where the memorial tablets of Roh's parents are enshrined on Tuesday said someone who appeared to be Lee visited the temple at the time of Roh's suicide. The temple is 200 m from Owl Rock.

Questioned again Monday, Lee reversed his initial testimony and said Roh told him to go to the temple. And under fresh questioning Tuesday night, Lee said he could not find Roh after sending away a mountain climber who approached the two.  

These conflicting testimonies have led to calls for a rigorous reinvestigation of the case by the police and the presidential security team. Police has requested records of communication between Lee and the presidential security team, but a perfect reconstruction of Roh's last minutes will take some time.