President also skipped funeral in favor of fruitless diplomatic push
In an apparent move to downplay the legacy of former President Roh Tae-woo, the South Korean government withheld condolences over Roh’s death sent by world leaders, including those of China and Japan. The public was outraged after hearing the news that the government concealed these messages from them and Roh’s family.
According to the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and the media, the government received messages of condolence over Roh’s passing from China’s Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on October 29. Roh passed away on October 26. However, the government hid the fact that they received such messages from the leaders until November 1. Roh’s family told the media that “we knew about the words of condolence being sent while we were having a phone call with the Chinese Ambassador to South Korea.” Roh’s family said that that was when they asked the government whether they received these messages. Only then did the government admit that it received the messages from global leaders.
According to the Chinese embassy in South Korea, Xi sent words of condolences saying, “President Roh contributed to the normalization and partnership of the two countries.” The Chinese ambassador reportedly asked the South Korean government why Xi’s message was not disclosed. After the news broke, the South Korean Foreign Ministry released a press release stating that “China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Hungary, Guatemala, Maldives, Seychelles, Gabon are some countries that sent words of condolence for Roh’s death.” However, it did not disclose detailed messages from them. An official from the foreign ministry explained that all messages were sent to the presidential Blue House, and they are not required to send these messages to family members unless the respective government asks them to hand them over to the family members personally.
As the public criticized the government’s poor handling of the words of condolences from world leaders, the Foreign Ministry explained that “we wanted to collect and count them carefully and then send them to the family members at once.” The foreign ministry said there is no specific standard for disclosing which country sent words of condolences in what appeared to be an evasion of diplomatic criticism.
Heo Eun-ah, a spokesperson for the (PPP), called this incident a “concealment scandal.”
“Regardless of whether you believe in Confucius, Christianity, or Buddhism, providing condolences is the most important part of a funeral,” she said. “This is the same case everywhere in the world, because personally expressing condolences shows respect for the deceased and consoles family members.”
Heo argued that the government’s explanation that it was a simple “delivery accident” is ridiculous. “Is every public official in the Moon Jae-in government cold-blooded and cannot understand the grief that the family and the people are going through?”
“How is it possible that no one in this administration thought about delivering the words of condolence from leaders of foreign countries to the family for three days?”
She pointed out the fact that Xi Jinping thought highly of Roh Tae-woo’s policy of “Nordpolitik,” or building ties with the socialist states that were North Korea’s closest allies – including China and the Soviet Union. South Korea established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1990 and China in 1992.
“I have a suspicion that the Moon administration is trying to hide the fact that China thinks highly of Roh’s achievements,” she said.
President Moon Jae-in allowed Roh’s funeral to be held as a state funeral, but did not attend. This was the first time that a current president did not attend a former president’s funeral.
According to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Moon met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Rome, Italy, where the G20 summit was being held. Prime Minister Morrison told Moon that he heard the news of former president Roh’s passing, and expressed his condolence. Morrison reportedly said that he understands that this is a huge issue among South Korean people. However, Moon did not say a word about Roh’s passing to Morrison, according to the news media reports.
Meanwhile, President Moon met with Pope Francis last week and asked him to visit North Korea. The South Korean Blue House later declared that the Pope said, “If you send me an invitation, I will gladly go to help you, for the sake of peace. Aren’t you brothers who speak the same language? I am willing to go.”
The invitation to North Korea was not included in the Vatican’s official statement released after the meeting with Moon, raising speculation on whether the Pope actually accepted the invitation or was just being polite. In response, the Blue House issued a strange statement.
Park Kyung-mee, spokesperson of the Blue House, appeared on a radio program on October 2, and was asked whether the Pope would visit North Korea by the end of this year. Park answered, “The Pope is from Argentina, a warm country, and I was told that it is difficult for him to travel around during the winter season.”
