How was Roh Moo-hyun different from Lee Jae Myung?

Former President Roh Moo-hyun is being revisited as a political symbol in South Korea, while his biography highlights his own words and principles. The book, published by Wisdom House, was written by Yoon Tae-young, who said he wanted younger generations to understand Roh without prejudice. The article contrasts Roh with President Lee Jae Myung by noting that both constitutional reform and questions of legal responsibility after office echo across today’s politics.

The biography, A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun, was published by Wisdom House to mark the 80th anniversary of Roh’s birth on Sept. 1.

Author Yoon Tae-young served Roh’s administration as spokesman, head of the presidential first secretariat and presidential speech planning secretary.

Yoon said he reviewed more than 160 previously unpublished records, more than 600 notebooks, 1,000 files and 365 videos from Bongha Village while writing the book.

The biography is 928 pages long and was written more than 17 years after Roh’s death.

Roh said that if anyone who worked for him had done wrong, it was also his wrongdoing, and he would accept responsibility after his term ended.

Published Sep 7, 2026 12:00 am KST

928-page biography published to mark 80th year of late former leader's birth

President Roh Moo-hyun chairs a small-group discussion during the third National Policy Discussion of the Roh administration at Government Complex Seoul, in January 2004. His press secretary Yoon Tae-young, secon from left, listens during the discussion. Yoon, who recently published "A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun," worked on Roh’s speeches and writings for more than two decades beginning in 1988, earning the nicknames “Roh’s voice” and “Roh’s scribe.” Courtesy of Roh Moo-hyun Foundation

Former President Roh Moo-hyun remains a figure of the present in South Korean politics.

He is still one of the pillars used to explain the identity of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), while his name is repeatedly invoked to lend legitimacy to particular political factions or policy agendas.

Ahead of the DPK’s national convention in August, candidates for party leadership competed to put forward their own interpretations of Roh, while even whether someone attended his funeral became a point of contention in debates over who could claim to be the party’s legitimate heir. The abolition of prosecutors’ supplementary investigative powers was also described as “a homework assignment left by the late president.”

As different political forces invoke only the version of Roh that serves their own interests, concerns have grown that misconceptions about him are spreading and that younger generations who did not know him well may feel increasingly disconnected from his legacy.

It was against this backdrop that "A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun," published by Wisdom House, was released. The book was published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Roh’s birth on Sept. 1.

Published to mark the 80th anniversary of Roh Moo-hyun’s birth on Sept. 1, Yoon Tae-young’s "A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun" traces the former president’s life in its entirety. Courtesy of Roh Moo-hyun Foundation

Its author, Yoon Tae-young, served as spokesman for the Roh administration, head of the presidential first secretariat and presidential speech planning secretary. For more than two decades beginning in 1988, he recorded Roh’s words and writings and became known as “Roh’s voice,” “Roh’s scribe” and “Roh’s confidant.”

“I wrote the book with the idea of bringing together various records, including the ones I personally kept,” Yoon said. “More than anything, I strongly felt that I needed to portray Roh in a way that would allow generations who did not know him well to understand him. I wanted people to be able to learn about Roh without prejudice. That is why I tried to provide fairly detailed explanations.”

Yoon was interviewed on Aug. 29 at Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, where an event marking Roh’s 80th birthday was held. The interview was also conducted by phone. This article combines the two interviews with material from the biography and Yoon’s lectures.

The biography was published more than 17 years after Roh’s death. Yoon presented a copy of the book at Roh’s grave in Bongha Village.

“I feel overwhelmingly inadequate, but I have finally completed, with great difficulty, the oldest assignment the president left me,” he said at the grave.

“May this bring a small measure of comfort to a great politician who agonized and made decisions at critical moments in modern Korean political history for the advancement of democracy.”

Yoon said he believes this will probably be the last time he expresses Roh through writing.

He began working on the biography 10 years ago. He initially expected to finish it within three years, but the project took far longer.

The years he had spent watching Roh at close range and documenting his every move, along with the enormous volume of material he had accumulated, had given Yoon confidence. Yet once he actually began writing, he struggled to make progress.

“I think I was overwhelmed by the weight of writing a biography,” he said. “I would put it away and then take it out again, repeating the process. That is how it took this long.”

Yoon Tae-young, author of "A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun," poses in front of the birthplace of former President Roh Moo-hyun at Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, Aug. 29. Korea Times photo by Shin Eun-byul

Yoon modestly attributed some of the delay to his own laziness, but the amount of material he reviewed was enormous.

He examined more than 160 previously unpublished records, including oral histories and speeches from the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s Presidential Archives, as well as notes, transcripts and memoranda kept by his aides. He also went through more than 600 notebooks and 1,000 files he had personally preserved, along with 365 videos from Bongha Village.

“When I looked through my old notebooks again, I found that about half of them were impossible to decipher, and I could no longer remember why I had written about 30 percent of the entries,” he said. “It also took considerable time to cross-check them against historical records from the period.”

The result is a 928-page “brick” of a book.

Despite its size, however, the book is relatively easy to read. Much of that is due to Yoon’s decision to preserve Roh’s words and writings as close to their original form as possible.

“I tried hard to preserve the president’s words as they were,” Yoon said. “I believed his own words were more important than my thoughts or judgments. I wanted to portray him in a straightforward and objective way.”

According to Yoon, Roh once gave him the following advice: “There’s nothing to worry about. Just write what you saw and heard. There’s no need to exaggerate anything, and don’t deliberately leave anything out.”

Those words became the guiding principle for Yoon as he wrote the biography.

Roh Moo-hyun and today's politics

Roh's remarks are vividly captured in the book, including his response to a corruption investigation in 2003 involving close aides such as An Hee-jung and Yeom Dong-yeon, who were accused of receiving money from the Boseong Group in connection with an alleged lobbying scandal involving Narae Jonggeum.

“I believe the wrongdoing of anyone who worked for me is also my wrongdoing," Roh said. "And I take full responsibility for all of it. However, as I am currently serving as president, criminal prosecution against me would inevitably be suspended during my term. If there is anything for which I am legally responsible, I will gladly accept that responsibility as soon as my term ends.”

Roh had intended to include these remarks in the draft of his first address to the National Assembly after taking office, but his aides persuaded him not to.

Another episode described in detail concerns Roh’s proposal for constitutional reform in 2007. When he proposed a constitutional amendment introducing a four-year presidential term with the possibility of one reelection and aligning the terms of the president and National Assembly members, opposition parties accused him of seeking to regain political initiative near the end of his presidency. Some also suspected that the amendment was designed to extend the incumbent president’s tenure or enable him to run for another term.

At a luncheon with leaders of the ruling Uri Party, Roh reportedly said: “No matter how much I think about it, I cannot see what benefit this would bring me. I appreciate that you think of me as a master strategist, but…”

That same day, Roh made his position clear at a press briefing. “This constitutional revision has nothing to do with me. Even if the Constitution is amended, I cannot run for president again.”

These episodes inevitably overlap with contemporary political debates surrounding President Lee Jae Myung. Roh’s remarks about accepting legal responsibility after leaving office raise the broader question of how those in power should approach judicial proceedings involving themselves. His insistence that he would not be eligible to seek another term under a revised Constitution also evokes Lee, who has spoken in favor of constitutional reform centered on a four-year presidential term with the possibility of reelection, without explicitly addressing whether he himself would seek another term.

Writer Yoon said that working on the biography made him realize that many of the issues debated in the past remain unresolved.

“Some issues are still unfolding, while others are challenges that President Roh ultimately failed to accomplish. That is probably why what happened then can serve either as a lesson or a precedent for what is happening now.”

The study in former President Roh Moo-hyun’s home in Bongha Village remains as it was after his retirement. Roh wrote books and held discussions there with aides including Yoon Tae-young. The shelves still contain the 919 books Roh kept there during his lifetime. Korea Times photo by Shin Eun-byul

'Roh Moo-hyun spirit': Accepting losses for principles

In 2003, Roh accepted Kim Yong-dam as his nominee for Supreme Court justice despite having differences with then-Chief Justice Choi Jong-young. Yoon, who witnessed the episode firsthand as Roh’s presidential spokesman at the time, might have been expected to offer an interpretation of the current dispute between the presidential office and Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae over the nomination of Supreme Court justices through the lens of Roh’s political philosophy.

But Yoon firmly rejected the idea of using Roh’s name to interpret current political affairs.

“My role was to faithfully put the president’s thoughts and philosophy into writing. Using those ideas to interpret current issues goes beyond my abilities and the scope of my role.”

Yet when discussing Roh’s political philosophy itself, Yoon spoke with confidence.

He identified “national unity” as the central goal Roh sought to achieve throughout his political career.

“The president believed that his election itself had achieved about 50 percent of national unity. But as his term progressed, he began using the word ‘frustration’ more and more often. He believed that he had achieved a great deal in terms of national unity, but toward the end of his presidency, he also seems to have felt that he had accomplished nothing.”

Before becoming president, Roh had lost four of the six elections he contested, including three defeats in Busan. According to Yoon, Roh regarded his own election as president — after challenging regionalism throughout his political career — as an achievement in national unity. But by the end of his presidency, he felt the limits of that achievement, having ultimately failed to break down the country’s entrenched regional political divisions.

The conversation also touched on the idea of the “Roh Moo-hyun spirit,” a phrase frequently invoked in political circles. While acknowledging that it can be interpreted in various ways, writer Yoon identified it as “politics that is willing to accept personal losses for the sake of principles.”

Yoon cited several examples: Roh’s decision to pursue a career as a human rights lawyer, his submission of a resignation letter from the National Assembly, his refusal to join the three-party merger, and his decision to run in Busan’s Buk District and Gangseo District rather than seek reelection in Seoul’s Jongno District.

“The president emphasized that he practiced politics by accepting personal losses,” Yoon said. “I believe the Roh Moo-hyun spirit means having the courage to give up vested interests when necessary to uphold principles that serve the interests of the people and the country.”

It was perhaps the clearest message to politicians who invoke Roh Moo-hyun’s legacy today.

Yoon Tae-young pays his respects at the grave of former President Roh Moo-hyun at Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, Aug. 29, more than 17 years after Roh’s death. Yoon placed a copy of his newly published biography, "A Biography of Roh Moo-hyun," at the site before observing a moment of silence. Korea Times photo by Shin Eun-byul

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.

韩国前总统卢武铉作为政治象征的地位正被重新审视，而他的传记也着重介绍了他的言论和原则。这本由智慧出版社出版的传记由尹泰英撰写，他表示希望年轻一代能够不带偏见地了解卢武铉。文章将卢武铉与李在明总统进行了对比，指出宪法改革和卸任后的法律责任问题在当今政坛都引起了共鸣。

为纪念卢武铉诞辰80周年（9月1日），智慧出版社出版了传记《卢武铉传》。

作家尹泰荣曾担任卢武铉政府的发言人、总统第一书记处处长和总统演讲策划秘书。

尹表示，在撰写本书的过程中，他查阅了160多份此前未发表的记录、600多本笔记本、1000份文件以及来自奉下村的365个视频。

这本传记长达 928 页，是在卢武铉去世 17 年多后写成的。

卢武铉表示，如果他手下的任何员工做错了事，那也是他的错，他会在任期结束后承担责任。

发布于2026年9月7日凌晨12:00（韩国标准时间）

为纪念已故前领导人诞辰80周年，出版了一部928页的传记。

2004年1月，在首尔政府大楼举行的卢武铉政府第三次国家政策讨论会上，卢武铉总统主持小组讨论。他的新闻秘书尹泰荣（左二）在讨论中聆听。尹泰荣近期出版了《卢武铉传》，自1988年起，他为卢武铉撰写演讲稿和文稿长达二十余年，因此被誉为“卢武铉之声”和“卢武铉之笔”。图片由卢武铉基金会提供。

前总统卢武铉至今仍是韩国政坛的重要人物。

他仍然是用来解释执政的韩国共同民主党（DPK）身份认同的支柱之一，他的名字也经常被提及，以赋予某些政治派别或政策议程合法性。

在朝鲜民主主义人民共和国8月召开全国代表大会之前，各党领导人候选人竞相阐述他们对卢武铉的解读，甚至有人出席了他的葬礼也成为争论焦点，争夺党内合法继承人的地位。取消检察官的补充调查权也被描述为“已故总统留下的‘作业’”。

由于不同的政治势力只援引符合自身利益的卢武铉版本，人们越来越担心关于他的误解正在传播，而不太了解他的年轻一代可能会感到与他的遗产越来越疏远。

正是在这样的背景下，由智慧出版社出版的《卢武铉传》面世。该书的出版恰逢卢武铉诞辰80周年（9月1日）。

为纪念卢武铉诞辰80周年（9月1日），尹泰英撰写的《卢武铉传》出版，全面记述了这位前总统的一生。图片由卢武铉基金会提供。

该书作者尹泰荣曾任卢武铉政府发言人、总统第一书记处处长和总统演讲策划书记。从1988年开始的二十多年间，他记录了卢武铉的言行，因此被称为“卢武铉之声”、“卢武铉的书记员”和“卢武铉的知己”。

尹先生说：“我写这本书的初衷是将各种记录汇集在一起​​，包括我个人保存的那些。最重要的是，我强烈地感到我需要以一种能够让不太了解卢武铉的后代理解他的方式来描绘他。我希望人们能够不带偏见地了解卢武铉。这就是为什么我努力提供相当详细的解释。”

8月29日，尹先生在庆尚南道金海市奉河村接受了采访，当时那里正在举办卢武铉80岁寿辰纪念活动。此次采访也通过电话进行。本文结合了这两次采访内容，以及传记和尹先生的演讲资料。

这本传记在卢武铉去世17年后才出版。尹锡悦在奉河村卢武铉的墓前敬献了一本该书。

“我深感自身能力不足，但我终于克服重重困难，完成了总统留给我的最古老的任务，”他在墓前说道。

“愿这能给这位伟大的政治家带来些许慰藉，他曾在韩国现代政治史上的关键时刻为推进民主而痛苦挣扎并做出抉择。”

尹表示，他相信这可能是他最后一次通过文字表达对卢武铉的感受了。

他十年前就开始着手撰写这本传记。起初他预计三年内就能完成，但这个项目耗时远超预期。

多年来近距离观察卢武铉并记录他的一举一动，加上积累的大量素材，让尹锡悦信心倍增。然而，一旦真正开始写作，他却难以取得进展。

“我觉得写传记的重担压垮了我，”他说。“我会把它放下，然后再拿出来，如此反复。这就是为什么花了这么长时间才完成的原因。”

8月29日，《卢武铉传》作者尹泰英在庆尚南道金海市奉下村，即前总统卢武铉的出生地前留影。照片由《韩国时报》申恩星拍摄。

尹谦虚地将部分延误归咎于自己的懒惰，但他审阅的资料量非常庞大。

他查阅了160多份此前从未公开的档案，包括卢武铉基金会总统档案馆的口述历史和演讲稿，以及其助手保存的笔记、笔录和备忘录。他还翻阅了自己亲自保存的600多本笔记本和1000多份文件，以及来自奉河村的365段视频资料。

他说：“当我再次翻阅旧笔记本时，发现大约一半的内容根本无法辨认，而且我已经记不清当初写下大约30%的内容的原因了。此外，我还花了相当长的时间将它们与当时的历史记录进行核对。”

最终成书厚达 928 页，简直像一块“砖头”。

尽管篇幅很长，但这本书读起来相对容易。这很大程度上要归功于尹锡悦决定尽可能地保留卢泰愚的文字和著作的原貌。

尹锡悦表示：“我努力还原总统的原话。我认为他自己的话语比我的想法或判断更重要。我想以一种直白客观的方式来描绘他。”

据尹先生说，卢先生曾给他这样的建议：“没什么好担心的。把你看到和听到的都写下来就行了。不需要夸大其词，也不要故意遗漏任何事情。”

这些话成为了尹在撰写传记时的指导原则。

卢武铉与当今政治

书中生动地记录了卢武铉的言论，包括他对 2003 年一起涉及安熙正和廉东延等亲信的腐败调查的回应。安熙正和廉东延被指控从宝城集团收受钱财，与罗莱钟金涉嫌参与的游说丑闻有关。

“我认为，任何为我工作的人犯下的错误，也是我的错误，”罗先生说。“我愿为此承担全部责任。然而，由于我目前担任总裁，对我的刑事诉讼必然会在任期内中止。如果有什么事情我需要承担法律责任，我将在任期结束后立即欣然接受。”

卢武铉原本打算将这些话写进他上任后在国民议会发表的首次讲话草稿中，但他的助手们劝他不要这样做。

另一起详细描述的事件是卢武铉在2007年提出的宪法改革方案。他提议修改宪法，将总统任期改为四年，允许连任一次，并使总统和国民议会议员的任期保持一致。反对党指责他试图在总统任期即将结束之际重新夺回政治主动权。一些人还怀疑，该修正案旨在延长现任总统的任期，或使其能够竞选连任。

据报道，卢武铉在与执政党乌里党领导人共进午餐时表示：“无论我怎么思考，我都看不出这样做对我有什么好处。我很感激你们认为我是一位战略大师，但是……”

当天，卢武铉在新闻发布会上明确表明了自己的立场。“这次宪法修改与我无关。即使宪法修改了，我也不能再次竞选总统。”

这些事件不可避免地与围绕李在明总统的当代政治辩论交织在一起。卢武铉关于卸任后承担法律责任的言论，引发了一个更广泛的问题：当权者应如何应对涉及自身的司法程序。他坚称，根据修订后的宪法，他将没有资格寻求连任，这也让人联想到李在明。李在明曾公开支持以四年总统任期和连任为核心的宪法改革，但他并未明确表态自己是否会寻求连任。

作家尹表示，撰写这本传记让他意识到，过去争论的许多问题仍然没有得到解决。

“有些问题仍在发展之中，而另一些则是卢武​​铉总统最终未能解决的挑战。这或许就是为什么当时发生的事情既可以作为经验教训，也可以作为现在正在发生的事情的先例。”

韩国前总统卢武铉位于奉下村的故居书房，在他退休后仍保持着原样。卢武铉曾在此写作，并与包括尹泰荣在内的助手们进行讨论。书架上至今仍摆放着卢武铉生前收藏的919本书籍。（韩国时报 申恩星 摄）

“卢武铉精神”：为原则接受损失

2003年，尽管与时任最高法院首席大法官崔钟荣存在分歧，卢武铉仍接受了金永潭作为最高法院大法官的提名人选。尹锡悦当时作为卢武铉的总统发言人，亲身经历了这一事件，人们或许会期待他能从卢武铉的政治理念出发，解读当前总统府与首席大法官赵熙大之间围绕最高法院大法官提名的争议。

但尹锡悦坚决反对用卢武铉的名字来解读当前的政治事件。

“我的职责是忠实地将总统的思想和理念记录下来。运用这些思想来解读当前问题超出了我的能力范围和职责范围。”

然而，在谈到卢武铉的政治哲学本身时，尹锡悦却充满自信。

他认为“民族团结”是卢武铉在其政治生涯中力求实现的核心目标。

“总统认为，他的当选本身就实现了大约50%的全国团结。但随着任期的推进，他越来越频繁地使用‘沮丧’一词。他认为自己在全国团结方面取得了巨大成就，但在总统任期的后期，他似乎也觉得自己一事无成。”

在当选总统之前，卢武铉参加过六次选举，其中四次落败，包括在釜山的三次失利。据尹锡悦称，卢武铉将自己当选总统——在他整个政治生涯中不断挑战地方主义之后——视为国家团结的一项成就。但到了总统任期末期，他意识到这项成就的局限性，最终未能打破韩国根深蒂固的地方政治分歧。

谈话中还谈到了“卢武铉精神”的概念，这个词在政治圈中经常被提及。作家尹表示，虽然这个词可以有多种解读，但他将其定义为“为了原则甘愿承受个人损失的政治”。

尹列举了几个例子：卢武铉决定从事人权律师职业，他向国会递交了辞呈，他拒绝加入三党合并，以及他决定在釜山北区和江西区参选，而不是在首尔钟路区寻求连任。

尹锡悦表示：“总统强调，他奉行政治的方式就是接受个人损失。我认为卢武铉精神意味着，为了维护人民和国家的利益，必要时要有勇气放弃既得利益。”

这或许是对如今援引卢武铉政治遗产的政客们最明确的警告。

8月29日，尹泰英前往庆尚南道金海市奉下村，祭拜已故总统卢武铉的墓地。卢武铉逝世已逾17年。尹泰英将自己新出版的传记《卢武铉传》放在墓前，并默哀片刻。照片由《韩国时报》申恩星拍摄。

本文来自《韩国日报》（《韩国时报》的姊妹报），由人工智能生成系统翻译，并由《韩国时报》编辑。