Before former Korean President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death, his last words were somewhat weird.

Korean police released the testimony of the bodyguard that had been accompanying Mr. Roh on the walk(hike) he had been taking in the mountain. According to the report (published by Sports Seoul), Mr. Roh asked the guard if he had a cigarette. “Should I go get some?” the guard asked (of course, smoking in the mountain is illegal). “That’s okay, there’s no need,” Mr. Roh said.  At that time, Mr. Roh looked down at the people passing below on the hiking trail. “People are passing” he said, and when the guard took a look down, he leapt.

Funny thing is, I haven’t seen any news reports yet on testimonies of the witnesses. Were there really people passing by on the trail below him? I’m not suggesting that the death wasn’t a suicide– there was a suicide note too– but it seems very unlike Roh to cave in from pressure regarding the current investigation against him. After all, throughout most of his presidency, he was sharply criticized, yet he never batted an eye. Maybe he’s the type of person who keeps it all in and implodes later.

It’s also funny that he wrote in his will that he is “clean on money issues” and that “history will reveal the truth” because due to his death, the case against him has now been canceled. Roh’s family  was accused of taking bribes of up to $6 million, a small amount compared to the money his predecessors manage to smuggle away. At this point, I really don’t care about the bribery, but about the papers that Roh stole from the Blue House. What happened to those?

Update: The bodyguard was found to have lied about the president’s last words…he wasn’t even there! No wonder it was fishy.