A Closer Look at the Roh Moo-hyun Administration

The Roh Moo-hyun administration suffered total defeats in the by-elections and re-elections toward the end of its term. Honam, which defended the public sentiment judging the Roh Moo-hyun administration until the very end, hoped that the administration would actively support Chung Dong-young and acknowledge the failures of the regime.
However, figures such as Rhyu Si-min, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in blatantly criticized Chung Dong-young for distancing himself from the Roh Moo-hyun administration and implicitly consented to the birth of the Lee Myung-bak regime.
As a result, the vote difference between Lee Myung-bak and Chung Dong-young was 5 million votes. While Roh Moo-hyun did not have a bad relationship with Lee Myung-bak, Lee gained confidence in recreating an ultra-right-wing regime and began to turn against the Roh Moo-hyun administration. The cause was the crushing defeat of the ruling party's presidential candidate.
Pro-Roh figures, including Ahn Hee-jung, who called himself a "discarded clan," withdrew from the political front lines, but Rhyu Si-min, Moon Jae-in, and others had no intention of doing so; around this time, they stepped forward to defend the Lee Myung-bak government and completely ignored Roh Moo-hyun. The people of Honam wrote petitions for Roh Moo-hyun, who had been betrayed by the Pro-Roh faction. Their only thought was: "He is still a Democratic Party president."
Roh Moo-hyun subsequently made a tragic choice, and instead of the Pro-Roh faction that called themselves a "discarded clan," the Pro-Roh faction that sided with Lee Myung-bak took control of the Democratic Party. To sustain their power creation, they shaped Roh Moo-hyun's grave into its current state, and began to claim credit for Roh Moo-hyun by piggybacking on President Kim Dae-jung's achievements, merely changing names, or rebranding regressive policies as Roh Moo-hyun's achievements. They effectively engaged in "erasing Kim Dae-jung."
Claiming that the achievements of the Lee Jae-myung administration were the dream of former President Roh Moo-hyun is also an extension of this effort to erase Kim Dae-jung and Lee Jae-myung.