First year Roh dubbed his administration the "Participatory Government", and entered office intent on introducing an ambitious new agenda. Policy goals for the Roh administration included the continuance of the
Sunshine Policy of engagement towards North Korea, the establishment of Korea as a business hub in Northeast Asia, the expansion of social welfare, the pursuit of "balanced national development" to help underdeveloped areas, the eradication of corruption, reform of education and tax systems, reform of
labor-management relations, reform of mass media, and a recasting of the relationship with the United States and Japan. As his policy for eradicating corruption inside the government had included many administrative reforms, he had to face high opposition. During the reformation of the prosecution, to resolve the opposition, he suggested a TV forum. The prosecutors insisted that Roh appointed the major positions of the prosecutor's office without consulting the personnel committee, and Roh answered that "The current members of the personnel committee themselves represent the old prosecution which has to be changed, if we do not change now, it would sustain the old prosecution at least few months." Three months into his presidency, he commented about the opposition problem, stating "I'm worrying the opposition that maybe I cannot continue the presidency while I get that much of it." That comment was quoted partly by conservative media, ('I cannot continue the presidency') and Roh was beset by skepticism about his ability and experience. Roh set the tone of his administration with a number of adventurous policies, and measures to uncover and reveal the names of the
descendants of Japanese collaborators. The investigations, criticized by opposition parties as a covert means of attacking them, and coming too late to provide substantive redress, mostly resulted in damage to his own party members. Also in his first year in office, Roh announced South Korea's Free Trade Agreement Policy Roadmap. Roh successfully pushed for free trade agreements in spite of domestic opposition from his traditional leftist constituency (who denounced it as "
neoliberal") and various groups (particularly farmers) opposed to market opening.
Uri Party and impeachment Roh and his supporters left the Millennium Democratic Party in 2003 to form a new party, the
Uri Party (). Directly ahead of the National Assembly elections, Roh voiced support for the Uri Party, which constituted a technical violation of Constitutional provisions mandating presidential impartiality. After Roh refused to apologize, led by the opposition parties holding the majority, the Assembly voted to
impeach him for illegal electioneering on 12 March 2004. The vote was 193–2 (Uri Party members abstained from the vote). Roh's supporters physically blocked the motion for three days in open combat, and had to be hauled out by security guards. Roh's executive power was suspended pending a final decision by the Constitutional Court, and Prime Minister
Goh Kun ran the country as the Acting President. The National Assembly's attempt to impeach Roh was largely opposed by the public. From 12 March 2004, to 27 March, protest against the impeachment motion was led by 'citizen's movement for eradicating corruption'. According to the police, 50,000 people gathered to protest on 13 March alone. Although Roh's popularity had hovered around 30%, the impeachment was taken as a power struggle against the political reform and the choice of the citizen, and Roh's popularity went up soon after the assembly's vote to impeach Roh. The results of the
April 2004 parliamentary election showed public support for him, with the Uri Party winning a majority of seats. On 14 May 2004, the Constitutional Court overturned the impeachment decision, restoring Roh as president. After the incident, Roh joined the Uri party as a member, officially making the Uri party as the ruling party. It was the first time that a liberal party achieved a majority in the National Assembly.
After the reinstatement in India with
Manmohan Singh and
A.P.J Abdul Kalam in 2004 As a part of his balanced national development campaign to reverse the concentration of wealth in Seoul, Roh also pursued a plan to relocate the capital 100 miles away to
South Chungcheong Province, ostensibly to relieve congestion. Roh had made this promise during his campaign, and pursued its fulfillment, despite convincing few voters outside the Chungcheong region of the benefits of the move. After much controversy, the Constitutional Court obviated Roh's plans by ruling that the relocation of the capital was unconstitutional because it 'opposes the custom that has to be considered as the constitution', thus inflicting a huge blow to Roh's political standing. Roh's plan was then amended to the creation of an "administrative capital", though this plan has also not yet seen completion. The issue of the proposed "administrative capital" remains controversial as of 2010 in plans for
Sejong City, the exact nature of which continues to be a politically divisive issue even within the ruling
Grand National Party. With the controversies concerning the capital, perceptions of neglect and mismanagement of the economy had grown. Although exports performed at record levels and the economy grew, growth still lagged behind both the previous administration and the rest of the world, while the domestic economy stagnated. At the same time regulations proliferated, investment capital exited the country, unemployment (especially among the young) increased, wealthy students flocked overseas as the education system stagnated, and housing prices in Seoul soared far beyond the reach of the average citizen. Roh responded by dismissing criticism as "shameless mudslinging", and touted the achievements of his government in increasing national competitiveness, strengthening the economy. This somewhat cavalier attitude led to his Uri Party suffering consecutive defeats in the Assembly, before eventually collapsing. Roh's unpopularity had become a liability for his party, and a new party was needed to disassociate from him. The Uri Party would thus be revamped and renamed as the
Democratic Party, before being
re-established again using the same name and taking a legislative majority in 2025. Roh's ambitious initial promises to establish Korea as an international business hub in Asia faded soon after his election. Instead, Korea under Roh suffered negative publicity in the foreign business community due to prosecutorial investigations on the purchase and sale of Korea Exchange Bank by the Lone Star Fund, spurring foreign investors to join their domestic counterparts in leaving the country. When housing prices soared, to prevent speculative bubble like
Japanese asset price bubble crisis, Roh introduced additional 1~3% of property tax on real estate exceeding 600 million won (about 600,000US$). This efficiently slowed down the bubble, but this policy met high opposition from the richest who had to pay higher tax. At the same time, Roh also increased welfare spending by 18% a year, and drastically increased spending by increasing the size of the civil service by more than 95,700 new hires, or approximately 60 people a day. Criticism of lax discipline among the civil service and police force was high during his government. The remainder of Roh's term was characterized by a number of campaigns pursued to varying degrees of success and completion. One of the more successful campaigns (at least during his term) was Roh's pursuit of an
FTA with the United States, concluded in April 2007 after many months of negotiations by
Kim Hyun-jong, the deputy minister for trade.
Grand coalition plan As a result of the controversy concerning the capital, and public dissatisfaction of economic development, Uri party lost much of its popularity. When the Uri party was defeated in by-elections held on 30 April 2005, losing every one of the 23 electoral districts, Uri Party lost its majority in the National Assembly. Facing the outcome of his unpopularity, Roh took a rather strange measure to manage the government when he proposed a
grand coalition with the opposition Grand National Party. Roh's rationale was that since it was impossible to continue his presidency with an approval rate of around 20 percent, a grand coalition comprising the Uri party and the Grand National Party was desirable, and that the difference between both parties in terms of political agendas was actually minute. Roh promised he would yield much of his power and might even resign from office if a grand coalition was successfully launched. Roh's proposal for the grand coalition stirred yet another national controversy. Many called his plan "reckless and completely ignorant" of the sentiments of people still ailing from repeated political controversies and economic hardships. Many of the Uri party's supporters who identify as liberals were enraged at Roh holding that his party was not really different from the conservative opposition. The Grand National Party, enjoying relatively strong approval rate but still bent on revenge for the party's defeat in major elections, repeatedly declined to initiate a negotiation for the coalition. While the Uri Party grudgingly supported the President's proposal, a lawmaker defected from the party in protest of Roh's plan, and the loss of popularity was felt when the party suffered yet another complete defeat in the by-election on 26 October 2005, this time including one of the party's stronghold electoral districts. Roh's plan was scrapped, having failed to garner support from either political faction.
Foreign relations United States at the 2006
APEC gala dinner with President
Vladimir Putin of Russia (centre) and
George W. Bush and his wife
Laura Bush (right) Roh was perceived as an
anti-American before the presidential race, which was not a handicap during the presidential campaign. Public antipathy to the United States was prevalent in 2002, particularly evoked by the
Yangju highway incident, where two South Korean middle school girls were crushed to death by a U.S. Army
armored bridge-laying vehicle. The American soldiers involved were tried by a U.S. Army court martial, but the Roh administration continued to demand a South Korean trial, although the incident occurred 'on duty' (as part of a convoy) and thus was an American responsibility under the Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and South Korea. However, except for policies toward North Korea, Roh was supportive toward the United States. Roh endeavored to improve relations with North Korea, becoming the first president to cross the border by foot and meeting
Kim Jong Il. He dispatched the
Zaytun Division to support the US in the
Iraq War by carrying out peacekeeping and other reconstruction-related tasks. Roh explained the deployment as only a peacekeeping mission and claimed that such commitment was required to bring favor from the United States in resolving the
North Korean nuclear crisis. He also pursued the
KORUS FTA. In 2004, the Roh administration reached an agreement with the US to move out all US forces in the capital to
Camp Humphreys, a rural area far away from the capital or major cities, as he deemed the
USFK's presence in the capital unnecessary and harming its reputation and development. In February 2006, Roh announced that South Korea would initiate negotiations with the United States for a
free trade agreement. In April 2007, Roh presided over an emergency meeting of his aides to discuss the diplomatic fallout from the
massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the United States by a South Korean student,
Cho Seung-hui, concerning its negative impact on South Korea-U.S. relations. They were discussing comprehensive measures to cope with the unprecedented incident, including issuance of presidential messages of apology and plans to prevent possible harassment of South Koreans living in the United States. Roh issued two messages of condolence already on 17 April 2007. Former
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates described Roh as "anti-American and probably a little crazy" in his book titled
Duty, and professed astonishment at Roh telling him at the meeting in November 2007 that "the two biggest security threats in Asia were the United States and Japan".
Japan South Korea's relationship with Japan was in a healthy condition when Roh entered office. However, his first visit to the neighboring country in 2003 was scheduled on a date that coincided with
Korean Memorial Day. During the visit, Roh proclaimed he would not seek any more apologies from Japan over its
colonial occupation, in the hope of maintaining a friendly relationship between the two countries. Although Roh's proclamation was made in good faith, some expressed concern that Japan may have interpreted this as the termination of its responsibility for the
colonial past, and use it as an excuse to deny any claims for compensation that may arise in the future. Despite Roh's hope, relations with Japan deteriorated henceforth, in several areas of conflict such as compensation issues for
comfort women, denial of the colonial past in
Japanese history textbooks, and disputes over the
Liancourt Rocks. Another sensitive issue, former
Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to
Yasukuni Shrine were harshly criticized in South Korea, and Roh declared no further meetings with Koizumi would take place unless he stopped visiting the shrine. According to Rep.
Chung Mong-joon, former leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, "The Roh Moo-hyun administration proposed that the U.S. define Japan as a hypothetical enemy," at the Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul in October 2005. "President Roh proposed it because the general public had bad feelings against Japan and Korea had a territorial dispute over the Dokdo islets with Japan, Washington was very embarrassed since it had hoped Korea and Japan would go hand-in-hand as free and democratic countries. A hypothetical enemy in English implies a main enemy." In an address to the nation on 25 April 2006 regarding disputes over the Liancourt Rocks, Roh reaffirmed that he didn't seek another apology from Japan, but demanded that Japan take action in compliance with its past apologies. The then-Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi characterized the speech as intended for domestic audiences. ==Retirement and post-presidency (2008–2009)==