Former President Roh Moo-hyun, embroiled in a widening corruption scandal, jumped to his death Saturday morning after leaving a brief note, his lawyer said. He was 62.

Roh threw himself off a 30-meter-high cliff in a mountain behind his home in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, around 6:40 a.m. while hiking with a security guard.

``Former President Roh left his house at 5:45 a.m. and appears to have jumped off a rock at around 6:40 a.m., while hiking on the Mt. Bongha,'' Moon Jae-in, Roh's lawyer and former secretary, said in a nationally televised statement.



A police officer quoted the security guard as saying that his fall was ``too abrupt'' for him to block it.

Right before jumping, Roh asked the accompanying guard to borrow a cigarette, police said, citing the guard as saying.

The note Roh left reads, ``Many people have been suffering too much because of me. The sufferings that will come are also too enormous. I cannot do anything due to bad heath. I cannot read nor write. Life and death are just one piece of the nature, aren't they?''

Roh also said: ``Don't be sorry. Don't blame anyone. It's all destiny. Please cremate my body and leave just a small tombstone near my home.''

His aides found the note saved in a file in his computer. The note indicates his suicide was premeditated.

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Former President Roh Jumps to his Death