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S.Korea Ex-President Roh dead -Yonhap
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-23 09:22

S.Korea Ex-President Roh dead -Yonhap
Security guards try to block media personnel outside the emergency room of a hospital where South Korean former President Roh Moo-hyun's dead body is laid in Yangsan, about 430 km (267 miles) southeast of Seoul May 23, 2009. [Agencies]

Pusan National University Hospital in a nearby town also announced that Roh was rushed to its emergency room at 8:13 a.m. and died at 9:30 a.m. from external head injury.

South Korea's  President Lee Myung-bak expressed deep regret over the sudden death of his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday, calling it a national tragedy, his spokesman said.

Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, said the president and his office were in "complete shock" and "disbelief."

The president learned of Roh's death about 40 minutes after Roh reportedly jumped from a mountainside near his home at around 6:40 a.m., the spokesman said.

"President Lee was shocked by the report," he said, "and ordered swift and complete measures to deal with the situation."