"I Decided to Die for Everyone."

A private police Lee (41) said, “At about eight thirty this morning, I saw Mr. Kim getting off a taxi and going to the work. Informed that someone jumped down form the rooftop, I went there and found Mr. Kim dead, with his head bleeding.”

▽ Vague points in Suicide Note = Kim left a suicide note with about 600 letters in his pocket. It starts with regrets for his family but it also said, “I believe this would be best for everybody. I decided to sacrifice myself in the great cause.” This implies that his suicide is related to his task or his job.

He made the suicide note with a pen on an A4 paper, and it was scribbled, with inconsistent size of letter and spaces between lines.

He asked his children not to dig into the cause of his death, saying, “I have made a little mistake when I was young, but I have never made a big blunder. Even if I made a blunder, please forgive me. Please do not try to know about my death.”

Mrs. Seok (46), the wife of Kim said, “Kim had suffered from problems at his work and often said that he wanted to quit. He also said that people in the work do not set a high value on him.”

She added, “My husband was unsatisfied with his return to Kumcheon revenue office in Seoul after finishing his dispatch work.”

She also said, “At about two o`clock on the 19th, a day before the suicide, he got a call in the middle of lunch with family and sat with vacant face for a while. I did not know what the call was about, but I think it was related to his death.”

▽ What was his problem? = Kim was promoted by one grade, from 7th to 6th in 1999. He also had a daughter who is a student at a prestigious university and a son, and he was comfort economically, owning two apartments.

A worker from National Tax Service said, “Kim was introspective and pessimistic, and he also had many personal problems such as family discord.”

National Tax Service also said, “Kim asked for leave of absence on the 18th, but he came to work. I asked why and he said he had had a fight with his wife.”

However, Kim`s son denied and said, “My father asked for leave of absence because he thought my sister came back from her travel to Japan on the 18th. But my mother said that she will come after a few days so he canceled it. He had no problems with family.”

Kim also was involved in a lawsuit with Lee, a tax accountant (66) on April 1999. Kim filed a lawsuit against Lee for libel because Lee insisted that Kim threatened a taxpayer and his family on a magazine which was published by Lee.

Seok said, “My husband had suffered from the lawsuit, but he won the lawsuit last October so I don`t think it`s the cause of his suicide.”

Police is investigating his surroundings and suspicions on his work and family discord to clarify the cause of his death.

Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com