KOREAN K-2 EXPEDITION LEADER SUNG-WON LEE
K-2 surrenders after four years to Koreans
JUNE27-200
By
Asem Mustafa Awan
ISLAMABAD
— K-2 surrenders to the South Koreans after four years.
"Four
South Koreans reached the summit of K-2," according the message from
the Base Camp.
The
four climbers who made the top are climbing leader Jung-Hun Park
(29), Yeon-Ryong Kang (27) Jung-Hyun Yun (30) and Woo-Pyoung Joo (25).
The
same Korean team also had an unsuccessful bid on the peak in 1999 managing
7700 metres then besides being the last to leave the Base Camp in August
(The Nation has the exclusive).
The
team attempted K-2 from the South South East Spur which was the plan and
route before they embarked for the peak in early May.
The
11 member team is led by 40 year old Sung-Won Lee who has been to Pakistan
four times with two unsuccessful attempts on Nanga Parbat in 1990 and
1992.
Ace
climber Jung-Hun Park from Kyeong-Nam is the climbing leader of the
expedition. Jung-Hun Park at (29) is one the finest climbers at the Korean
front with five 8000ers to his credit including summits of Everest South
West Face, Annapurna South Face, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma and Nanga Parbat.
Yeon-Ryong
Kang has the summit of the hardest peak Gasherbrum IV in Pakistan.
Only
three Koreans in the past has made the summit of K-2 and that was in 1986
and since then a number of attempts were made but all were unsuccessful.
The
last man to come from the K-2 summit from China was Piotr Pustlenik from
Poland on August 15, 1996 and peak has remained unaccessible to climbers
since then.
The
team before its departure made an elaborate plan to cover its shortcomings
which happened during the 1999 expeditions.
The
expedition climbed and gained altitude in a systematic way planning it by
hours between camps with the Base Camp at 5000 metres to the
summit at 8611 metres.
CAPTION:
Korean K-2 expedition climbing leader Jung-Hun Park (standing first left)
with the leader Sung-Won Lee. —Photo by the writer