DISABLED CLIMBER ASCENDS THE HIMALAYAS

[Anchor Lead]

The so-called "finger-less mountain climber" Kim Hong-bin has scaled the 8,047-meter Broad Peak. This makes him the first disabled mountaineer to ascend 14 of the Himalayas’ peaks that are taller than 8,000 meters. He overcame his disability to set this milestone, following the footsteps of great Korean mountaineers Um Hong-gil and Park Young-seok.

[Pkg]

​Broad Peak is the 12th highest mountain in the world at 8,047 meters above sea level. Kim Hong-bin, who has no fingers, ascended to the top. He became the first disabled climber in the world to conquer all 14 peaks of the Himalayas taller than 8,000 meters. That is the record set by world-class Korean mountaineers Um Hong-gil and Park Young-seok. It took him 16 years to achieve this feat. Kim started out from the base camp set up at the 4,800-meter point last Wednesday. He reached the peak in four days. He experienced some bad weather, just like in 2015 when he had to give up his effort midway. But this time he overcame it with his fighting spirit.

[Soundbite] Kim Hong-bin(Mountaineer) : "For some reason, I always experience problems when I come near the summit."

Kim exemplifies human triumph. He lost all his fingers when he suffered frostbite during a climb in 1991. He was only 27 years old at the time. He was in dispair for a while, but mountain climbing was his destiny. He returned to the mountains by wearing a special pair of gloves which were strapped to the climbing harness with a rope. As a result, he scaled the tallest peaks in the seven continents in 2009 and finally all 14 peaks of the Himalayas. He overcame human limitations to realize his dreams. Having given hope and courage to the nation, Kim’s climbing quest will be aired in a KBS documentary in September.