Roh Moo-hyun - Legacy

Legacy

In January 2010, dissatisfaction with the poor electoral showing of the minority Democratic Party, and a posthumous reappraisal of Roh Moo-hyun's presidency spurred the creation of a new party, the "People's Participation Party." This party was created to "revive the spirit of former President Roh Moo-hyun."

The Institute for Future Korea (한국미래발전연구원) is established for researching and promoting Roh Moo-hyun's social ideas.

A Wikileaks American diplomatic cable to South Korea revealed that Roh Moo-hyun expressed concerns how the US government mistreated North Korea.

The former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remarked Roh as an individual with an erratic behavior in her memoir.

Lee In-gyu (이인규), the former head of the SPO released his book on the involvements of the political corruptions surrounding the investigation against Roh that led to his suicide.

In 2010, 1 year after his death, the politicians who were Roh's aides won the local elections and became the provincial government heads. It was called " Roh faction strikes back!". And the general view on his presidency got more positive, while the president Lee Myung-Bak's popularity got dimmer. In January 2012, Han Myung-Sook who had been one of the prime ministers in Roh's tenure was elected party leader of the biggest opposition party, Democratic United Party. She officially made clear "succession of Roh's policy". Although his policy was regarded as failure when he was in the position, it has been reevaluated as liberal and nationalistic, compared to Lee Myung-Bak's authoritarian and pro-US policy. Even a conservative professor, Lee Sang-Don, who had severely criticized Roh's policy, said that "Roh became a myth (of our age) ."