Um Hong-gil, a prominent South Korean climber who was the world’s first to scale the globe’s 16 tallest mountains, will accompany President Lee Myung-bak on his upcoming Arctic trip as a symbolic move to underscore the seriousness of climate change, officials said Thursday.

Lee is scheduled to visit Greenland next week for talks with Premier Kuupik Kleist about green growth, resource development and other issues. Lee plans to travel to Ilulissat, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its famous ice fjord, to take a first-hand look at the problems resulting from global warming there.

Um, 52, who in 2007 completed climbs of the 16 highest peaks, will be among three special members of Lee’s entourage, along with famous cartoonist Hur Young-man and a college student chosen for his enthusiasm about green growth, the presidential office said in a statement.

In recent years, Um has worked as an environmental activist and his joining Lee’s entourage is aimed at underlining the spirit of challenge and to raise awareness of the importance of the environment and the seriousness of global warming.

Cartoonist Hur has also expressed extraordinary interest in the Arctic. When late mountaineer Park Young-seok reached the North Pole in 2005, Hur traveled to the Arctic to congratulate him, the office said. 

(Yonhap News)