Ex-Pres.`s Son Back to Face Probe on Bribery Scandal

The son of former President Roh Moo-hyun has returned from the United States for grilling over a widening bribery scandal involving one of his father’s financial supporters.

He returned to Korea late Saturday night 31 hours after he left his San Diego home via Japan to avoid reporters. He flew a non-Korean airliner departing from San Francisco for Tokyo, where he changed to an Asiana Airlines flight.

He arrived at Incheon International Airport at 10:50 p.m. Saturday. The last passenger to enter the arrival platform, the junior Roh wore a black suit and seemed tired after a long flight across the Pacific.

After a brief photo session, he answered a barrage of questions by simply repeating he had “nothing to say right now.” On how he felt, he said, “Not good.”

As reporters continued to pepper him with questions as he walked to the airport hallway for immigration processing, he said he can say something after talking to prosecutors.

He then ignored further questions, showing an irritated response to persistent reporters. He remained silent with a stiff look as he got out of the airport.

Roh Gun-ho is said to have also remained silent throughout the two-hour flight from Narita Airport in Tokyo, simply reading a newspaper. The 15 business class seats on that day’s Asiana flight from Narita were empty, except for Roh and another woman.

“I was the only one in business class but Roh came aboard just before takeoff. He looked very tired and just read a newspaper. He ate in-flight food,” the woman said.

An Asiana source said, “I tried to check his boarding record but the information about his flight from the U.S. had been deleted. I understand that he bought a ticket at Narita hurriedly just before the boarding time was over.”

Exiting the Incheon airport around 11:20 p.m. amid heavy police guard, Roh got on a black sedan waiting for him outside the airport terminal and sped to Seoul. A nearly three-hour car chase followed, as he tried to lose four to five media vehicles pursuing him.

His car once ran at nearly 180 kilometers per hour on a highway linking Seoul and the airport, and snaked through narrow alleys in Seoul, playing a hide-and-seek game with reporters. His car even made sudden lane chases or U-turns to lose his chasers.

Entering Seoul`s southern Gangnam district around 1 a.m. yesterday, his car circled an area around Gangnam Severance Hospital, while going in and out of an underground parking lot of an apartment complex. Some speculated that Roh was received by Chun Hae-chul, a lawyer who had served as former President Roh Moo-hyun’s senior secretary for civil affairs because Chun lived in that complex.

Around 1:50 a.m., the junior Roh’s vehicle entered a one-lane road, where he hopped on to another car waiting for him, finally losing all his chasers.

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