SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean ex-President Roh Moo-hyun, who apparently jumped to his death on Saturday, rose to office as champion of a generation that hit the streets to fight for democracy, but left it largely written off as a failed leader.

A self-taught lawyer whose formal education ended at high school, Roh’s most celebrated moment came when he went to Pyongyang in 2007 for a summit with Kim Jong-il in what was only the second meeting of leaders of the divided peninsula.

The left-leaning Roh, 62, won the 2002 presidential election by riding a wave of anti-Americanism and using the Internet to rally his base of supporters of young professionals who fought in the 1980s democracy movement.

His victory surprised himself and the pundits.

“Success depends 70 percent on luck and 30 percent on talent,” Roh said early in his presidency.

He faced an early stumble when conservative opponents impeached him for a minor election law infraction after he had served about a year as president. The Constitutional Court overturned the move.

Roh rode a brief wave of support but saw his popularity fall with the public feeling he was unable to deliver on his pledges to end regional politics, slow down runaway property prices and make Asia’s fourth largest economy more competitive.

He is credited with reaching a free trade deal with the United States, cleaning up the election system and making the president more accountable.

He was also ridiculed for trying to form a coalition with the conservative Grand National Party that became more powerful during his time in office.

He was replaced by former businessman Lee Myung-bak who scored the biggest landslide in the country’s history of open presidential elections on pledges to undo Roh’s economic policies and end the unconditional aid his government sent to North Korea.

Roh’s reputation as a reformer took a heavy blow when prosecutors questioned him in April on suspicion his family took about $6 million in bribes from a shoe company CEO.

SELF-TAUGHT

Roh was born on August 6, 1946 to peach and chicken farmers in the southeastern town of Gimhae. His school records include a note from his first grade teacher saying he had “talents in all subjects, especially presenting his opinions.

Roh, who said he drew inspiration from self-taught lawyer and former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, was able to pass South Korea’s grueling bar exam on his own.

He later became a human rights lawyer and was jailed for three weeks in 1987 for aiding an illegal strike.

He won a parliament seat in 1988 and rose to stardom during a parliamentary corruption investigation into the 1980-1988 presidency of Chun Doo Hwan. He lost a race for a parliament seat in 1992 but stayed in the ranks of left-leaning politicians and served as a fisheries minister under President Kim Dae-jung.

As president, Roh strained ties with the country’s long-time ally the United States, while prominent members of his government lectured officials in the George W. Bush administration about policy toward North Korea.

Roh, who felt Japan had not paid proper contrition for its 1910-1945 colonial rule over Korea, also declared he was willing to fight a diplomatic war with Tokyo.

Roh had been living a peaceful retirement in his hometown, where he smoked cigarettes and drank cheap liquor with locals in countryside stores.

Roh said in a note written just before his death and published by Yonhap news agency: “I have been too much of an imposition on others.”

“Don’t blame anybody. It’s fate. Please cremate me. And please leave a small tombstone near home. I’ve long thought about that.”