S. Korea's influential lawmaker commits suicide amid illegal fund probe

SEOUL -- An influential South Korean progressive lawmaker committed suicide on Monday amid a probe into allegations that he received illegal political fund, according to local media.

The body of Rep. Roh Hoe-chan, a floor leader of the minor progressive Justice Party, was found near the entrance of an apartment building in Seoul at 9:38 a.m. local time (0038 GMT).

A security guard of the apartment building, where Roh's mother and younger brother lives, reported his finding to police.

Police found a suicide note from his jacket left on the building's stairs. Roh said in the note that he accepted fund, which had nothing to do with illegal favors. He said sorry to his family.

The three-term lawmaker, known for his clean and reformist image, was estimated to have jumped from the building amid the investigation into suspicions that he received 50 million won ($44,000) from an aide to a power blogger, nicknamed Druking, in March 2016.

An independent counsel was looking into the Druking over an opinion rigging scandal, in which the suspect rigged opinion in the cyberspace using an illegal computer program.