South Korean police say former President Roh Moo-Hyun has died in a fall while mountain climbing Saturday.
Police say that Mr. Roh suffered severe head injuries in the fall and died after being transported from his home town of Gimhae to a hospital in the southern city of Busan.
They are investigating the cause of the fall.
Mr. Roh, who was 63 years old, served as president from 2003 to 2008 and was elected on a platform of anti-corruption.
Earlier this month, he was questioned about allegations that he took more than $6 million in bribes from a businessman while in office.
Mr. Roh rose to prominence as a human rights lawyer, defending students accused of treason during South Korea's military rule in the 1980s.
He built a reputation for challenging the authority of then-military dictator Chun Doo-hwan. In 1987, he was arrested and suspended from his law practice on charges of supporting a strike by workers at a shipyard.
Mr. Roh was the youngest son of a peasant family from the southeastern part of the country. He had no formal education beyond high school and studied law on his own.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
