Former Prime Minister Noh Jae-bong passes away…Roh Tae-woo administration’s northern policy theorist and coordinator of the overall crisis

Former Prime Minister Roh Jae-bong (88), who served as the President’s Chief of Staff during the Roh Tae-woo administration, passed away on the 23rd. The deceased, an international political scientist and political theorist, participated in the Roh Tae-woo administration and had a significant influence on national strategic planning and implementation. The Roh Tae-woo administration was in power during a period of domestic political and social democratization and a turbulent international situation. The deceased is also evaluated as having played a role in orchestrating the ‘total crisis’ that resulted from this.

Former Prime Minister Roh, who is from Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do, graduated from Masan High School and Seoul National University’s Department of Political Science and received a doctorate in political science from New York University. Unlike many international students who received degrees abroad on Korean issues at the time, he wrote his doctoral thesis on the study of Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th century French political thinker. Afterwards, he worked as a professor in the Department of Foreign Affairs at Seoul National University and studied international political theory and political thought. In the mid-1970s, he influenced New Democratic Party leader Lee Cheol-seung’s ‘centrist integration theory’, and served as an advisor to former President Roh Tae-woo in 1987, when he was a presidential candidate, and was involved in the writing of the June 29 Declaration. Due to this connection, at the end of 1988, he was appointed as a special advisor for foreign affairs to former President Roh, who promoted northern diplomacy, including establishing diplomatic relations with China and Eastern European socialist countries. From March to December 1990, he served as Chief of Staff to the President. When he was appointed Chief of Staff to the President, he resigned and left Seoul National University, even though he could have taken a leave of absence. The deceased was also involved in planning and executing former President Roh’s internal government strategy. The deceased took office as the 22nd Prime Minister in January 1990, but resigned from his position after 120 days as protests intensified following the death of Kang Kyung-dae. He was elected as a national candidate for the ruling Democratic Liberal Party in the 14th general election in 1992, but left the party and retired from politics in February 1995 amid the Kim Young-sam administration’s investigation into clearing up past history.

The Roh Tae-woo administration, in which former Prime Minister Roh participated, was a period of transition to democratization, but it was also a period called a ‘total crisis’. Although former President Roh was elected through a direct election, social instability continued as demands for democratization erupted from all walks of life and accumulated political and economic corruption erupted, including wage increases, material shocks, and poor construction. National competitiveness also took a downward turn, with the balance of payments turning into a deficit. Professor Cho Sung-hwan of Kyonggi University, a disciple of former Prime Minister Roh, said, “After the 1988 Seoul Olympics, I advised all-round diplomacy, such as the northern policy promoted by the Roh Tae-woo administration in earnest and the simultaneous accession of the North and South to the UN. Domestically, I advised on democratization and various institutional arrangements between vested interests and demands coming from below. “It was a strategic brain that sought compromise through level liberalization,” he said. Some say that the deceased was largely responsible for preventing the Roh Tae-woo administration from drifting amid the wave of democratization.

It is also known to have influenced the introduction of the Democratic Liberal Party candidate primary in 1992, in which, for the first time in the history of Korean political parties, the ruling party’s presidential candidate was decided through a primary rather than a vote for or against a single candidate.

After retirement, former Prime Minister Roh created study groups such as student groups and actively participated in knowledge platforms such as the ‘Korea Freedom Council’. Unification Minister Kim Young-ho, a former professor at Sungshin Women’s University, was a member of the study group. Former Prime Minister Roh discussed with his students and compiled the results into books such as ‘Korean Liberal Democracy and Its Enemies’ (2018). The deceased emphasized to his students the protection of the liberal democratic system and the role of intellectuals for this purpose. One student said, “The deceased emphasized that it is important to realize that the existential differences between North and South come from the differences between liberal democracy and communist totalitarian systems.” Former Prime Minister Roh said in a eulogy at former President Roh’s state funeral on October 30, 2021 that the June 29 Declaration was “a declaration confirming the change in the structure of Korean society and a sign of the emergence of civil society that has been growing so far.” “It is a minimal declaration that confirms the change in the system.”

Survivors include his wife Jiyeonwol, daughter Mora, and son Jin. His funeral was held at the funeral hall of St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul, and his funeral took place on the morning of the 27th.