By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
South Korean climber Ko Mi-young, 41, who was found dead while climbing in the Himalayas July 12, posthumously received a medal from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Monday.
She received the Maengho Medal, one of the highest honors among the Orders of Sport Merit bestowed by the ministry. Culture Minister Yu In-chon visited Ko’s lying-in-state room at the National Medical Center in Seoul and expressed his condolences while delivering the medal.
Ko was one of the world’s top five women vying to become the first female mountaineer to conquer all 14 of the highest Himalayan mountains. She fell after scaling the world’s ninth-highest point, the 8,126-meter-high Nanga Parbat. She was reported missing for about five hours until her body was spotted in a ravine some 100 meters away from the Messner route.
Born in 1966, Ko worked as a civil servant before becoming a professional mountaineer. For 11 years, she represented Korea in international events and won first place in Asian events six times. She became the first Korean woman to reach the seven highest peaks on each of the world’s seven continents over two years between 2006 and 2008.