S. Korean male climber scales world's 14 highest peaks

A South Korean male climber has reached the top of all 14 of the world's highest peaks, his local corporate sponsor said Tuesday.

Kolon Sport said climber Kim Jae-soo reached the summit of Annapurna, 8,091 meters tall, in the Himalayas earlier Tuesday.

Kolon said Kim, who left for the mountain on March 18, spoke to company officials via satellite phone.

The Annapurna is one of the world's 14 highest peaks, called "eight-thousanders," since they are all at least 8,000ｍ above sea.

Only 21 climbers have been verified as having reached summits of the 14 peaks, all of which are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges.

There have been three verified South Korean climbers to reach the peaks: Um Hong-gil, Park Young-seok and Han Wang-yong. In April last year, a female climber Oh Eun-sun claimed she completed her journey by scaling Kanchenjunga. 

But Oh's climb remains disputed because of loopholes in her photo allegedly taken at the top. Even the Korean Alpine Federation (KAF) last year doubted Oh had reached the summit.

Kim told Kolon Sport that he was glad to have completed the mission for his deceased partner, Ko Mi-young.

Ko and Kim scaled 10 of the 14 peaks together. But in July 2009, Ko died while descending the 8,125ｍ Nanga Parbat.

Kim, 50, scaled his first "eight-thousander" in 1990 with Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 8,848ｍ.

(Yonhap news)