THE death of former South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun, which has sparked a huge outpouring of grief and anger, will be entirely reinvestigated after the sole security guard who accompanied him on his last hike was found to have lied about the details surrounding his death.

A regional police chief told reporters it had been confirmed that Mr Roh jumped to his death from a mountainside cliff last Saturday, in the absence of the guard.

The guard, identified only as Mr Lee, had initially claimed he personally witnessed Mr Roh plunging from the 30m-high Owl Rock just behind the former leader's rural home in Bongha, about 450km south-east of Seoul.

However, as contradictory evidence and eyewitness accounts emerged, he changed his tune, saying he was not there at the precise moment.

"It is believed that former president Roh fell from Owl Rock after sending his security guard on an errand to a nearby temple," Commissioner Lee Woon Wu of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency said.

According to the commissioner, he had arrived at Owl Rock at 6.14am with security guard Lee and asked for a cigarette.

Three minutes later, he told the guard to go to Jongtowon Temple, a small Buddhist temple 200m up the mountain, to see if the head monk was present, the commissioner said.

A mortuary tablet in honour of Mr Roh's deceased parents is enshrined at the temple.

"The security guard belatedly looked for the missing former president and spotted him at 6.45am. The guard then carried Mr Roh on his back to a car at the residence, before rushing him to a nearby hospital," added the commissioner.

Earlier, the guard's story had wavered confusingly. At one point, he claimed to have been turning away an approaching citizen when Mr Roh fell. Investigators speculate that the guard lied for fear of being punished for dereliction of duty.

Despite his low popularity ratings when he left office last year, Mr Roh's suicide - in the face of a corruption probe - has sparked a wave of national mourning and a heavy police presence to forestall protests against his conservative successor.

Over 700,000 people have visited altars nationwide to pay tribute to the former leader. His funeral will be held tomorrow at the imposing Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul.

- Korea Herald/Asia News Network