Wife of Korean diplomat in Rwanda dies of endemic disease

Wife of Korean diplomat in Rwanda dies of endemic disease. August. 04, 2015 07:20. shcho@donga.com.

The wife of a young Korean diplomat working in Africa died of an endemic disease. The foreign affairs ministry said Monday, “The wife of Counselor Ahn who is working at the Korean Embassy in Rwanda passed away.” The wife lost her life after she went there to support her husband.

On July 30, the wife had an indication of indigestion after dinner and suffered pain in her chest. She then went to the largest hospital in capital city of Rwanda Kigali where they said they can’t identify the cause and told her to visit a larger hospital. She collapsed in that hospital shortly after, however.

She was moved to Kenya, the country known to have the best medical treatment in Africa, but died in the airplane. Her conditions rapidly aggravated and there wasn’t enough time to make emergency treatment. A foreign affairs ministry official sad, “We were told that they conducted an autopsy but couldn’t identify accurate infection channels other than that there was a virus infection.” It’s a changing season in Rwanda and the only guess is that she suffered a waterborne endemic. Ahn said he will continue working in Rwanda despite the sorrow of having lost his wife, the ministry said.

The dead body was cremated and moved to Korea. Guests including ministry executives, colleagues and relatives came to the mortuary at the Sinchon Severance Hospital in northern Seoul to pay tribute. The coffin will be borne out Tuesday.

It is widely considered that diplomats enjoy a fancy life like attending wine parties and so on, but many actually struggle while living in poor surroundings. Rwanda has seen medical facilities improve thanks to international aid, but medical levels are still very low compared to Korea. Sufferings by diplomats and their families have been continuing. In 2009, Councilor Yoo Hong-geun who was working in Cameroon died while on job due to overwork.