It grew strength from the young people, who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
The most important message Mr Roh can take to Pyongyang is that those cracks have narrowed, and no amount of wheedling or bluster from Mr Kim will allow them to widen.
Inspired by female revolutionaries in Egypt and elsewhere and fed up with being kept off the road, a small but vocal group of Saudi women have been actively fighting for their right to drive.