Politician who said no to partisan politics

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The late President Roh Moo-hyun (1946-2009) has been wielding influence posthumously ahead of the March 9 presidential election to be held over a decade after his tragic death.

Just like celebrities or leaders in other industries, politicians become forgotten once they disappear from the public eye. Thus, it's unusual that the late president who was in office from 2003 to 2008 was summoned out of the blue in the middle of the current presidential race.

What's intriguing is that the liberal politician's popularity among presidential candidates is bipartisan, with three candidates representing conservative, liberal and center-right parties all pledging to succeed Roh's legacy.

The main opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol ignited the Roh nostalgia in his emotional campaign speech on Feb. 5 at Jeju Island's small fishery village of Gangjeong.

"Back in 2007, President Roh emphasized that a naval base on Jeju was necessary. He went on to say that the coexistence of arms and peace may sound awkward but this doesn't mean they shouldn't be together," he said. "Mr. Roh was under immense pressure as many were against the idea of building a naval base here. But he gave the green light to go for it."

Yoon paused a moment to hold back tears, before he read the rest of his prepared speech.

The PPP candidate is known to be a fan of the late Roh. In a news article published last March, Yoon, then prosecutor-general, likened Roh to a gifted football legend as great as Lionel Messi or Christian Ronaldo.

"President Roh was a gifted politician. Just like football legends Messi and Ronaldo who were born great, Roh was born like that. His political acumen was not something that was made or could be earned with effort, but something he was born with, just like the two football greats," he said.

Months later, Yoon mentioned Roh again on a SBS TV show that aired on Sept 19. Saying his favorite song is "There's No Man Like Him" sung by Lee Seung-cheol, he said he has sung it many times since Roh's death on May 23, 2009.

Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea revisited the late Roh during his visit to the former president's home in Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang Province. "All his life he dreamed of a compassionate community that cares for people. It's the dream (incumbent President) Moon Jae-in has been seeking to achieve, and will also be the one that I, Lee Jae-myung will pursue all my life," he said on Feb. 6.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor center-right People's Party, said the next day that he would succeed Roh's legacy.

How has Roh's legacy lived on and inspired the presidential candidates running in the election to be held more than a decade after his death?

Roh is remembered by many as a compassionate leader. He had a unique presence in Korean politics, partly because like these days, the political arena back then was crowded with calculated, snobbish, self-serving people willing to sacrifice their mandate as the representatives of the people for their own gain. Because of his personality trait of willing to sacrifice his personal interests for the greater cause, he was called a "fool," in a positive sense, among his supporters.

His down-to-earth demeanor, however, is not all that has inspired the three presidential hopefuls to revisit his legacy in the middle of their campaign trails.

Roh had an important quality that many other leaders are lacking: He had courage to say no to partisan politics.

During the 2002 presidential campaign, he was depicted by some media outlets as an anti-American politician. His remarks at a university prompted him to live with that label for the rest of his life. When asked by a student why he had never traveled to the United States until then and if this was because he was anti-American, Roh answered he was busy and it was difficult to find time to travel to the country. Then he went on to joke, "Is it wrong if someone is anti-American?" His remarks drew laughter from the audience.

The exchange was widely reported, forcing him to live with the reputation that he was anti-American.

But he was quoted out of context. The rest of his remarks that day were not widely reported.

Roh noted he had no plans to be anti-American, whatsoever. "It's simply too risky if an aspiring president like me does something that is seen by others as anti-American," he had continued. "It would cause big trouble for the country," he said. The latter part of his remarks were not widely reported.

Although he was liberal and compassionate about marginalized people, he gave the green light to go ahead with a free trade agreement with the United States. That decision provoked severe protests from labor unions and farmers. Korea sent troops to Iraq during his tenure. Then the ruling liberal party was poles apart when he pushed for those initiatives which they saw as "contentious," but he didn't back down because he believed that those measures would benefit the nation.

Roh knew leaders must represent the people and seek their common interests, not their personal or partisan interests, and tried to live up to his commitments as a leader for all. His pursuit of a broader "national interest" over partisan interests sometimes pitted him against his supporters as seen in the protests against the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.

He risked his popularity for the betterment of the community, a trait I hope presidential hopefuls can learn from.