Everest Ascent and Tragedy. Our expedition had eleven Korean members and three Japanese. I was general leader and Korean Roh Jong-Baek was leader. We established Base Camp at 5200 meters on August 25. We placed Camps I, II, III and IV at 6200, 6800, 7200 and 7990 meters on the South Col route on September 2, 7, 22 and October 1. A first summit attempt was given up in bad weather on the 2nd. On October 6, Koreans Kim Jee-Soo, Park Chang-Woo, Bok Jin-Young, Dawa Sange Sherpa and Pemba Dorje Sherpa climbed to the summit. Japanese Koichi Sugiyama had to retire at 8500 meters. On October 7, Korean Ham Sung-Hun left Camp IV on the South Col for the summit without oxygen and without my permission. He has never returned.

Nobuo Kuwahara, Japan