Crowds are still lining up in Seoul to bid farewell to former President Roh Moo-hyun, three days after he committed suicide, and the mood is turning decidedly anti-Lee Myung-bak with each passing day.

As I watch men, women and children bow before makeshift altars erected in honor of the late leader, I get the sense that they are mourning the loss of one of their own; a self-taught man from humble beginnings who through his own efforts and an idealism forged out of personal experience rose to the heights of political power here. It is an enobling story and one that encapsulates the social mores in this highly Confucian society.

Subway stations are lined with farewell messages attached to pictures of Roh, riding a bicycle, or with fist raised in victory. Passersby wipe tears from their eyes as they scan the mosaic before them.

His successor, meanwhile, has now become the target of growing resentment and calls for his resignation. A former construction executive and self-made millionaire, Lee’s rise to power is no less replete with rags-to-riches tales. But he is seen by most as tied to the establishment, a man of fortune disconnected from the daily struggles of average South Koreans. He is not “one of us,” with mourners quick to put their names to a petition condemning the man once known as the “bulldozer.”

North Korea’s nuclear test that came quite literally on the heels of Roh’s death and hours after Kim Jong-il sent a message of condolence to Seoul has componded the sense of urgency here. A significant portion of the population already blamed the current administration’s hardline policy against Pyongyang for frayed inter-Korean relations. My first reaction to the test was in fact to assume that the North was looking to capitalize on just such anti-Lee sentiment, though with the North its anybody’s guess.

It seems now that liberal forces within South Korea have found solid footing in their efforts to go after the incumbent president. Last year’s rallies against imports of U.S. beef that drew thousands upon thousands and ultimately coalesced into an anti-Lee movement fell apart because in the end there was nothing wrong with U.S. beef.

With the death of Roh, who most say was driven to despair by a malicious state-led investigation into bribery allegations, they’ve found their cause, and it appears as solid as the rows of riot police surrounding his supporters.