Female S. Korean climber dead after fall in Himalayas

(ATTN: LEADS throughout with Korean diplomats confirming Ko's death)
SEOUL, July 12 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean female climber who had been missing
after scaling a Himalayan peak was found dead in a ravine on Sunday, South Korean
diplomats in Pakistan said.

Ko Mi-young, 41, was reported by her team members to have fallen off a cliff
while making a descent late Saturday from the peak of the 8,126-meter Nanga
Parbat they reached a day earlier. Officials from the South Korean embassy in
Islamabad said her death was confirmed by her teammates, although her body has
yet to be retrieved.
"We talked over a satellite phone today with the alpine team which Ms. Ko had
led. The team told us Ms. Koh was dead," one South Korean Embassy official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity due to protocol.
Ko's body will be airlifted by helicopter on Monday, and her funeral will be
discussed when her family arrives in Islamabad as early as Monday, the official
said.
Earlier, Ko's Seoul-based agent, Kolon Sport, said a rescue helicopter located
Ko's body in the ravine some 100 meters away from the Messner route Sunday
afternoon, but search efforts had to be suspended after sunset and due to bad
weather.
Fellow climbers have asked the Pakistani government for help in the search, it
said.
Ko became one of the few female climbers to reach the top of Nanga Parbat, the
ninth-highest mountain on earth, and also one of a handful of Asian women who
have conquered Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. She reached the peak in
May 2007.
Ko has said she aspired to climb all 14 of the mountains, a feat achieved by only
13 people in the world -- including South Korean climbers Um Hong-gil, Park
Young-seok, and Han Wang-yong. She had three to go.
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