노무현 盧武鉉

Sixteenth President of the Republic of Korea (2003-2008); lawyer and Minister of Oceans and Fisheries

Life & career

Roh Moo-hyun (1946-2009) was the sixteenth President of the Republic of Korea, of the Gwangju (光州) No clan. Korean Wikipedia introduces him as a 31st-generation descendant of the Maejukwa-gong branch of the Gwangju No and writes that his sixth-generation ancestor No Byeok-su came from Hamyang in Gyeongsang to Jangyu, Gimhae around 1780. However, a newspaper candidate profile from the 2002 presidential election recorded "25th generation of the Hyeeun Man-ja branch of the Gwangju No", so the branch name and generation are transmitted differently and need checking against the genealogy. He was born on 1 September 1946 at Bonsan-ri, Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae (Bongha village), youngest of three sons and two daughters of No Pan-seok and Lee Sun-rye.

He graduated from Jinyeong Daechang Primary School, Jinyeong Middle School and Busan Commercial High School and, studying alone, passed the 17th bar examination in 1975. He became a judge at Daejeon District Court in 1977 but soon resigned (sources give his tenure as five months or a year), and opened a law practice in Busan in 1978, taking human-rights cases. He won a Busan Dong-gu seat in the 13th general election of 1988 and broke with Kim Young-sam in 1990 by opposing the three-party merger. After repeated electoral defeats he returned to the National Assembly in the 1998 Jongno by-election and was Minister of Oceans and Fisheries from August 2000 to March 2001.

He won the 2002 Democratic Party primary, was elected sixteenth president and took office on 25 February 2003 as the Participatory Government began. He decided to dispatch troops to Iraq in 2003; the National Assembly voted to impeach him in March 2004, suspending his duties until the Constitutional Court dismissed the motion in May. Major diplomatic issues included the Korea-US FTA, the "Northeast Asian balancer" idea and the 2007 inter-Korean summit. His term ended on 24 February 2008. He died on 23 May 2009 at 62; Wikipedia states that he died after a fall from the hill behind his house while under prosecutorial investigation related to the Park Yeon-cha case, and that the investigation was closed without indictment after his death. A national funeral was held and he is buried in his home village of Bongha.

Records of His Gwangju No Lineage

Wikipedia writes him as a 31st-generation descendant of the Maejukwa-gong branch of the Gwangju No, while a 2002 newspaper candidate profile gave "25th generation of the Hyeeun Man-ja branch", so the two records differ. The Gwangju No divide broadly into the Gwangju-gun and Daehogun lines, and since the Gwangju-gun line is explained as starting from No Man, Roh is generally introduced as part of it. However, one source gives No Man as founder of the Andong No clan, so the seat and line of No Man differ by source. The exact branch and generation must be confirmed in the genealogy, and Jokbo World gives both records.

Bongha Village and Commemoration

Roh Moo-hyun was born in Bongha village, Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae, returned there after leaving the presidency, and was buried there after his death in 2009. A national funeral was held, and the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation says more than five million people mourned nationwide. With No Sin-yeong and No Jae-bong he is presented as part of a family producing two prime ministers and a president, but the three are judged very differently politically, so this entry is limited to recorded fact.

Grave

He is buried in Bongha village, Bonsan-ri, Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang.

Other 광주 노씨 figures