Many South Koreans are mourning a former president who was popular among youth in cyberspace, with an online gaming company even halt playing for several hours for the funeral on Friday.

South Korea is one of the world's most wired nations and a leader in online games.

On Thursday, NCSoft, which provides multiplayer online games such as Aion and Lineage, said it would suspend services for seven hours to mourn Roh Moo-hyun, who commit suicide on Saturday.

Hundreds of thousands of people have visited memorials to Roh set up around the country.

Online, many players and fans held their own ceremonies, dressing up their game characters in black and having them convene meetings instead of slaying the usual monsters.

Roh, who had been questioned over his family's involvement in a corruption scandal, jumped off a mountain to his death, leaving a suicide note on his computer.

Riot police have flooded the center of the capital since last weekend to block possible mass protests linked to Roh's death.

Roh was widely seen as an unsuccessful leader when he left office more than a year ago. But his death has acted as a rallying point for opponents of the current conservative government which has sought to overturn many of the liberal policies of Roh.

(Reporting by Rhee So-eui, editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Miral Fahmy)

South Korea