경기고등학교
Roh was born on 31 August 1956 in Busan into a middle-class household. He attended the prestigious Kyunggi High School in the 1970s. Afterwards, Roh went to college, taking part in political movements, and in 1982 was hired as a welder at a factory where he organized the factory workers. Roh was instrumental in the formation of the Incheon Democratic Workers' Federation () with the aim of creating the workers' party. He was jailed for 30 months after being caught by the government in 1989, accused of breaking the National Security Act.