Rohstalgia South Koreans get dewy-eyed about a former president
They’re also excited about their new one
| SEOUL
A DOCUMENTARY that intersperses old friends reminiscing about a late head of state with archive footage of him on the hustings hardly sounds like a blockbuster. Yet in South Korea, “Our President”, about the early political career of Roh Moo-hyun, is the film that moviegoers are most eager to see, according to pollsters. No other documentary has been even half as popular in its first week. In online forums self-describedjungalmot(political dummies) say they “cried buckets” when they watched it.
The film is an unabashed eulogy: 30-odd former aides, friends and commentators reminisce along with members of Nosamo (“I love Roh”), a fan club that helped bring him to power and that is still active. A former secret-service agent who had been instructed to spy on Roh as a “dangerous” human-rights lawyer describes how he became his friend. Roh’s driver recalls how Roh, in a self-effacing role reversal, drove him around on his honeymoon. Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s new president and Roh’s former chief-of-staff, reads aloud the note Roh left in 2009 before he jumped off a cliff to his death amid a bribery scandal.
Part of the documentary’s appeal is that it depicts a liberal president who has “grown in hearts” during the subsequent decade of conservative rule, says Kim Seong-soo, a cultural commentator. There is no mention of his bungles, or his rock-bottom approval rating in his first year. The nationwide protests that led to the recent impeachment of Park Geun-hye were in part motivated by a sense that the political system is rigged, and that ordinary South Koreans are powerless to change it. Roh’s startling ascent to the presidency in 2002 suggested otherwise: he was the son of peasants from Bongha village, known for its persimmons and rice paddies. And he had what South Koreans call “short school-bag straps”, having made it no further than secondary school.
Roh was bumbling at times and spoke off-the-cuff; the mainstream press scoffed that he was “the say-anything president”. But the working class and the young adored his audacity and tenacity. He lost election after election, and began his presidential campaign with 2% support in the polls. He once flung his parliamentary nameplate at Chun Doo-hwan, a military dictator. In his acceptance speech, Roh promised a country “where the people who win fairly are the ones who win in society.”
A Nosamo member recalls how Roh’s victory opened “a year of possibilities: just like magic”. Many hope that another such period began last month, after a snap election put in office the first liberal leader since Roh. Mr Moon’s approval rating is 84%, the highest on record. He has become something of an icon himself. Enamoured of his relaxed ways and calls for social justice, fans are snapping upMoontem, “Moon items”, such as copies of his spectacles and ties. Whether mourning for Roh abates under Mr Moon will be one measure of his success.
