The latest conquerers of the world’s highest peak are two teams of climbers from South Korea. Their achievement has been acknowledge by the Nepali tourism ministry announced. Their feat came within days of two other groups of south Korean mountaineers reaching the summit of another Himalayan giant, the 8,516-metre Mt lhotse.

According to the tourism ministry, Hwan Koo Kim,45, and Seong Cheol Kim,32, two climbers from the seven-member 2000 Korean Ulsan Everest Expedition led by San Ki Jang,37, completed the ascent of 8,848 metre-high Everest on October 4 via the south east ridge route. Hours later, three members of another South Korean team-- Woong-Sik Kim,34, Sun-Dok Hong,30 and Cheol-Hee Cho,31-- emulated their Everest achievement by exactly the same route. The second seven-member 2000 Chung-Buk Korea Everest Expedition was led by Kim Young Sik, 36, a teacher from Seoul.

Members of the successful Korean Ulsan Lhotse Expedition 2000 included in Seok Jeong,32, Dong Sik Hwang,33, and Gil Young Lee,29, led by Young Moon Kim,50, according to the ministry. Bureau Report