South Korea ? Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, embroiled in a broadening corruption scandal, jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural southern home, his lawyer said. He was 62.

Roh had been hiking in the village of Bongha on Saturday morning when he threw himself off a mountainside rock, lawyer Moon Jae-in told reporters. In a suicide note left for his family, Roh called life “difficult” and apologized for making “too many people suffer,” a TV report said.

Roh was rushed to a hospital in the nearby port city of Busan around 8:15 a.m. local time and died around 9:30 a.m. from head injuries, officials at Busan National University hospital said.

The lawyer confirmed that Roh left a “brief” suicide note for his family. Investigators have not seen the note, a Busan police official said. He did not give his name, citing department policy.