Nepal unveils memorial monument for legendary alpinist Park Young-seok

Nepal has unveiled a memorial monument in memory of veteran South Korean climber, Park Young-seok, earlier on Nov. 10

Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has constructed the memorial monument at International Mountaineers’ Memorial Park (IMMP) at Kakni, some 20 kilometers north of Kathmandu. The marble monument, 1.5 meters high, is put on a 1.2 meter high pedestal. About 100 people including Lee In-jeong, Chairman of the Korean Alpinist Federation (KAF) who is also the President of Union of Asian Alpine Association, South Korean embassy staffs in Kathmandu and Nepal based South Korean nationals as well as some Nepali dignitaries attended the unveiling ceremony.

Park’s statue is the fourth erected in the park following three other legendary mountaineers including Edmund Hillary who first conquered the Mt. Everest in 1953. Nepal’s Vice Minister of  Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yajna Prasad Gautam said in a speech “We are grateful to Park and other three other climbers whose monuments are erected here along. They have done a lot for Nepal,” said Gautam.

Lee said that Nepal and Korea are closer to each other not only through the mountains but also in economic and business activities.

Zimba Zanghbu Sherpa, President of NMA, expressed happiness over the construction of the monument saying that he felt very proud to have memorial monument of such great climber at Nepal and IMMP. The veteran South Korean climber along with his two other climbers have gone missing in the slope of Mount Annapurna last October. Several attempts to find them failed to yield any results. Failing to trace them out, the funeral for the three climbers was held in South Korea in November.

Sherpa, also expressed hope that the establishment of the memorial monuments of great mountaineers like Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgey Sherpa who accompanied Hillary in the conquest of Mt. Everest, Pu Dorjee Sherpa and now Park will spread the message to the world about the missions of NMA. Park (Nov. 2, 1963-October 2011) is a legendary South Korean mountaineer, who climbed 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in Himalaya Mountain and explored both poles, thus conquering all the highest mountains in seven world continents

He also holds the world’s second fastest time (behind Jerzy Kukuczka of Poland) for ascending the all 14 Himalayan peaks above eight thousand meters. The Guinness World Record credit him for climbing six of the 8,000 – meter Himalayan peaks within one year, and another record for reaching the South Pole on foot in 44 days, self- sufficient and without any food re-supplies, according to the NMA. Park went missing on October 23, 2011 while attempting to explore a new route on Mt. Annapurna. Despite a dangerous and daring rescue operation to find out the missing climbers, no sign of Park was found.

Korean Corner at IMM

Lee In-jeong, head of KFA, and NMA President Sherpa jointly inaugurated Korean Corner at International Mountain Museum ( IMM) very recently in Kathmandu. The corner was established under the initiation of KAF. The corner exhibits the mountain related artifacts of Korean climbers, information of Korean alpinism, culture and many others. NMA President Sherpa hoped that the unveiling of Korean corner would also serve as a motivation for alpine clubs of the other nations to take initiative in making corners at IMM.