A White Flower for Roh Mu Hyun

The suicide of former South Korean president Roh Mu Hyun has become a huge public outpouring of grief.

All across the country, "satellite" funeral halls have been set up in public places. Always interested in Korean culture, I went down to see the Cheongju city one last night with my wife's family.

There were two "funerals": one set up in the provincial hall, and another set up in the park right down the street. We went to the hall one first, which was a quick in and out. You went in, took off your shoes, laid a white chrysanthemum on the altar, and then prostrated yourself two times. Then you signed your name in the guestbook, and out. The picture of Mr. Roh was in color, surprisingly, and he had the little smile he was famous for on his face. We picked up some candles to bring with us to the park shrine.

Then we turned the corner to get there, and holy crap! There was a line. Not just a line, but an immense snaking line that wove for hundreds of meters down the street. A line to bow twice to a picture. Interesting. We weren't going to do the bowing again, but we were able to wiggle our way into the park itself.

Hundreds of long streamers with mourning messages written upon them hanging from ropes strung between the trees. Lots and lots of pictures with messages written upon them. Hundreds of people milling around with lit candles. A video tribute of the highlights of his long political life.

The shrine itself was pretty much what we'd just come from, but on a little grander scale. I was interested to see that people were offering cigarettes to the former president. He had asked for one just before he'd jumped off the cliff, but his bodyguard didn't have any on him. The woman behind us had tears pouring from her face.

The actual funeral is on TV right now, and sheer masses of people are in Seoul for it. It is being held in the ancient Kyoungbuk Palace. Many of the mourners are wearing yellow, which was apparently a color connected with Mr. Roh. They just showed an immense line of colorful banners blowing in the breeze -- gorgeous!

The ceremonies will be Christian, Catholic, and Buddhist, as Mr. Roh was religiously flexible; he visited a temple on the last day of his life. He will be cremated later on today, and his grave will be close to the mountain in his hometown from which he jumped.

His suicide note said "Don't be sad". I wonder if he knew how upset the Korean people would be. Although, to be honest, I suspect this immense grief is a reaction in part to the extreme unpopularity of the current administration, just as part of the joy of Mr. Obama becoming president is that George Bush is no longer president.

A white chrysanthemum for Roh Mu Hyun. May your rebirth be a good one.