We are just a day away from the public funeral of former President Roh Moo-hyun.
The government is busy preparing for the official service to be held at 11 a.m. in Seoul the third to be held at the main royal palace that sits at the northern edge of downtown next to the Presidential Office.
[Interview : ] "The third public funeral will be held here at Gyeongbok Palace where the last one was conducted in 2006 by the late former President Roh Moo-hyun himself. Thousands of people will be gathered here this time to say farewell."
After the hour-long proceedings a public mourning service will be held at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall where tens of thousands of people are expected to gather.
Until then police have set up barricades to block any demonstrators.
The funeral procession will start on the other end of the country at 5 a.m. from Roh's hometown of Bongha Village in South Gyeongsang Province.
His coffin will then be taken to downtown Seoul for the public funeral ceremony.
And when all is finished in Seoul the body will head to Suwon, south of the capital to be cremated as Roh wished.
The ashes will then return to Bongha later at night.
The largest funeral committee in Korean history has been formed for the funeral with the number of members totaling nearly 14-hundred.
As part of preparations at Gyeongbokgung the former president's portrait was set up at an altar which was then covered with white chrysanthemums in tribute to Roh.
Chairs were also put out enough for about three or four thousand people.
[Interview : ] "Everything is going well, as planned but we are working under time pressure as some decisions came late from the famly in Bongha Village."
The government says it is trying to allow more public participation by broadcasting the service on screens to be set up in the Gwanghwamun and Seoul Station areas of downtown.
Choi Won-young, Arirang News.
MAY 28, 2009
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Arirang Town
Tuesday, FEB 09, 2010, (KST) 
